Former Hawaii legislator Ty Cullen receives 2 years in federal prison

A federal judge rejected an ex-lawmaker’s request for a 15-month sentence after he pleaded guilty to taking $30,000 in bribes in casino chips and cash over a seven-year period and sentenced him to two years in federal prison and fined him $25,000.

Ty Cullen, 42, had argued that being the son of a man who died while serving a life sentence in prison, his legacy of community service, letters of support and a year’s worth of cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice’s ongoing public corruption probe warranted a downward departure from federal sentencing guidelines.

He was facing 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty Feb. 15, 2022, to a single count of honest-services wire fraud for helping Milton J. Choy manage legislation to the benefit of his company, H2O Process Systems.

Cullen paid $23,000 in criminal forfeiture before he was sentenced Thursday morning, and his attorney, Birney B. Bervar, noted that was only the second time in his 34-year history of practicing law in the district that he had a client pay his restitution before his sentence.

“Mr. Cullen is a good person who made a very bad mistake,” said Bervar, speaking in court Thursday.

The government filed a motion for a downward departure from the U.S. Probation Office calculation that Cullen spend 37 to 46 months behind bars, with a recommendation on the low end of 37 months.

The motion by federal prosecutors recommended a sentence of 24 to 30 months of incarceration, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson asked the court Thursday to consider sentencing Cullen to the low end of that range.

Sorenson told the court how he sat with Cullen after his arrest and that the former lawmaker immediately accepted responsibility, admitted everything and began providing substantial assistance. He described Cullen as a young man who “has much potential” and continues to enjoy support from his friends and family as well as “substantial community support.”

“What is so striking is that Ty Cullen, an influential legislator as the vice chair of the powerful finance committee, was so easy to bribe, so ready to accept envelopes with cash in return for selling his political clout and power. It’s almost as if this was simply the way things are done … the price of doing business. … But this is the United States, not some banana republic in Central America, and the public needs to know that there are consequences for this type of public betrayal,” said Sorenson, speaking before Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway handed down her sentence.

“Cases like this are incredibly rare, extraordinarily difficult to investigate, requiring our entire toolbox of investigative processes to ferret out and investigate what has been so secret, kept so quiet, behind the back doors of our political processes.”

Speaking after the sentencing Thursday, Sorenson declined to detail Cullen’s “substantial assistance” but said what that generally means is that a defendant has helped with the investigation of other criminal activities and other people.

Oki Mollway was not swayed by Cullen’s argument, although she did acknowledge that his remorse was genuine, he has the love of family and he cooperated extensively with the government’s continuing probe into corruption in Hawaii government.

She asked Bervar and Sorenson to explain why Cullen should get a shorter sentence than former state Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English, 55, who got 40 months in federal prison and was fined $100,000 after pleading guilty to the same single count as Cullen, honest-­services wire fraud, for helping Choy between 2014 and 2021.

“The disparity sought here is significant,” said Oki Mollway, speaking before she handed down her sentence. “Help me understand why.”

Without going into the confidential details of the case, Sorenson said English “did not give us substantial assistance,” although he did not agree with Cullen’s 15-month request. He noted that federal prosecutors may recommend reductions of as much as 10 years in drug cases when criminals cooperate.

“We recognize cooperation; it’s incredibly important to what we do … not only the quantity of it, but the quality of it,” said Sorenson.

Cullen, dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt and blue tie, fought through tears and got choked up while apologizing to his family, constituents, community and the “people of Hawaii.”

“I stand here in front of you taking full responsibility for my actions. I understand what I did should have never happened. … I want to say I’m sorry to my family, who is sitting behind me,” said Cullen, speaking before receiving his sentence. “I will continue to work to make my wrongs right and ensure this never happens again. I’m sorry.”

Oki Mollway told Cullen that she had to come up with a sentence that balanced his crime with his cooperation and potential for rehabilitation.

“One of the things that concerns me very much is that this was not a momentary lapse of judgment on your part,” said Oki Mollway, speaking after informing Cullen of her sentence. “This was a grievous breach of public trust. … It appears to be motivated by greed, and it stretched out over years. You will go through the rest of your life as a federal felon. That is part of the consequence of the crime you committed. The primary reason that your sentence … is 24 months is the assistance you provided the government.”

Oki Mollway agreed to Cullen’s request asking her to recommend that he serve his time at either the Federal Prison Camp in Yankton, S.D., or Montgomery, Ala. Cullen remains free on an unsecured $50,000 bond and will self-report to federal prison on May 18 by 10 a.m. local time wherever he is sent.

“The insidious nature of public corruption is such that it gradually erodes the very fabric of our society, causing widespread damage to our institutions and corroding the public’s trust in them,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill in a statement. “This sentence unequivocally signals that acts of public corruption will not be condoned, and that the FBI will persist in its relentless efforts to investigate these individuals who misuse their positions of power for personal gain.”