HONOLULU – It’s a stunning fall from grace for Stewart Olani Stant, the former Director of Maui County’s Department of Environmental Management. Today, Chief United States District Judge Derrick K. Watson sentenced Stant, 55, to serve ten years in federal prison and pay a $1.9M money judgment forfeiture for honest services wire fraud.
According to court documents, Stant accepted up to $2 million in bribes from businessman Milton Choy, including cash, bank deposits, and gambling trips to Las Vegas. In exchange, Stant steered over $19 million in sole source contracts to Choy’s company. This brazen act of public corruption not only violated federal law but also stripped Maui County citizens of their right to honest service.
“Mr. Stant was a public official given the discretion to use government funds for public contracts with the public’s expectation that he would do so honestly,” said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors. “By directing public contracts to a specific company in exchange for money, he failed to discharge his responsibility faithfully.”
“Mr. Stant was a public servant entrusted by taxpayers to act in their best interest,” added Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill. “Today’s sentence sends a clear message: the FBI will work tirelessly to investigate public corruption and bring those responsible to justice.”
The investigation leading to Stant’s prosecution was conducted by the FBI, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ken Sorenson, Micah Smith, and Michael Albanese handling the case.
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Key Facts
- State: Hawaii
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Public Corruption|White Collar Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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