by Andrew Walden

Would you loan a drunk $10M?

Approved by the Hawaii House and Senate in slightly different forms, SB2301 is headed for Conference Committee Friday April 22 at 2PM.  The bill vaguely “Authorizes the issuance of special purpose revenue bonds to assist Keahole Management Group LLC with planning, designing, constructing, and equipping facilities for the manufacturing and processing of products.” 

UPDATE: "Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Tuesday 04-26-16 2:15PM in conference room 423."

According to State DCCA BREG, “Keahole Management Group LLC” was organized only in November, 2015—but it is managed by Calvin Say’s former House Vice-Speaker Jon Riki Karimtsu.

In its Senate form the taxpayer-backed loan amount was $10,000,000 authorized as of July 1, 2016.  The House blanked out the loan amount and changed the effective date to February 19, 2022, thus necessitating tomorrow’s Conference Committee meeting.

Jon Riki Karimatsu mugshot from 2nd DUI arrest.

Akamai readers will remember that Karimatsu, drunk at twice the legal limit, crashed into a pillar on the Moanalua Freeway at 1:15am on the morning of Tuesday October 16, 2007.  This led to his demotion to House Judiciary Chair.   

According an April 16, 2016 post on Karimatsu’s blog, he has been working on “a development project in Kona, Hawaii and an EB-5 Regional Center based in Hawaii.”  The EB-5 Green Card program is described by Forbes as fraud-riddled and by Daily Caller as corrupt.

After coming in 6th in the 2010 Democratic Primary for Lt Governor, Karimatsu went to work as a Honolulu Prosecutor.  But on April 7, 2015, after a second DUI arrest, Karimatsu resigned.

In his resignation letter, Karimatsu intoned: “With the intense media coverage on my pending OVUII case, I do not want to be a distraction to the work of the department.”  Apparently his hope is that there will be no media coverage of his sweetheart deal with his former colleagues.

Deputy Prosecutor Karimatsu moonlighting as Rave Producer.

As a prosecutor, Karimatsu in 2014 faced criticism for moonlighting as the security chief for a drug-induced rave party at Kakaako Makai Park.

HNN Reported:

…one of the key producers was Deputy Prosecutor Jon Riki Karamatsu.  His boss, Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro did not know that Karamatsu was involved until weeks after the event. And sources say, Kaneshiro was not happy.

"I'm not somebody who's a big proponent of rave parties in general," says former Honolulu City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, "They tend to have problems with alcohol and drugs and I can't imagine somebody who is a professional in the prosecutor's office endorsing that kind of behavior."

Karamatsu is proud of his involvement. His blog provides a running tally of all his convictions and has pictures of him on stage during the Love Festival.

Will the $10M be used to promote more rave parties? 

In an April 3, 2016 blog post, Karimatsu writes about: “…the companies that I’m a partner of, a number of which are being built from scratch in the areas of development, construction, aviation, hotel, manufacturing, EB-5 foreign investment, and events management. In the spirit of the music events business that I’m involved with….”

Channeling his narcissism, Karimatsu titles the post: “…If they judge you by extraordinary standards, then live super extraordinary lives….”

If he is so extraordinary, why does he need all of us average taxpayers to co-sign his loans?

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HNN: Honolulu Deputy Prosecutor is Co-Producer of Giant Drug Induced Rave Party  (Nov, 2014)  (Rave at Kakaako, Sept, 2014)

HNN: Deputy Prosecutor Jon Riki Karamatsu resigns after second DUI arrest  (April, 2015)

SB2301: Keahole Management Group, LLC  (KARAMATSU,JON RIKI)  Organized Nov 23, 2015   Original version $10M)

HB2063: Keahole Management Group (died in FIN)

BREG: Keahole Management Group, LLC