OHA Trustees Never Approved $705K Hush Money Payment
by Andrew Walden
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, in April, 2024, quietly shelled out $705K to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former OHA CFO David Laeha.
But OHA Trustee Hulu Lindsey, who was, at the time, Chair of the Board of Trustees (BoT), tells Hawai’i Free Press she was not aware of the settlement and that the BoT was never asked to approve the payment.
RELATED: Ex-CFO: I was fired to keep Legislators from Seeing OHA's True Budget
The situation is reminiscent of the Honolulu Police Commission paying off Police Chief Kealoha without a vote of the Honolulu County Council. Criminal charges stemming from that incident are still pending in federal court.
Hawai’i Free Press only discovered the payment as the result of a UIPA open-records request for the FY 2023-24 OHA check register which shows check# 104433, dated April 10, 2024, made out to “Eric A. Seitz, Attorney At Law, A Law Corporation.”
Recognizing the single large-dollar payment to likely be the product of a settlement agreement, we looked through recent civil suits involving OHA and quickly found Seitz as plaintiff attorney in Laeha v OHA 1CCV-21-0000095.
Laeha case records include a March 13, 2024, Minute Order, stating:
… Parties have reached a full settlement agreement in this case with the help of mediator, Keith Hunter. (OHA’s attorney) Mr. Minkin stated the material terms for the record as follows: OHA agrees to pay Plaintiff $705,000 in General Damages only, payable to Mr. Seitz's law firm, within 7 days.
There's no confidentiality clause. Letter of Mr. Laeha's employment will consist of employment dates only.
In exchange, Counsel agree to Dismiss this case with prejudice as to all Claims and All parties.
Mr. Seitz agreed with the terms that were stated on the record and confirmed he has written client authority to settle this case.
Mr. Minkin also confirmed he has written client authority from OHA and the carrier to settle this case….
A review of OHA BoT minutes from November, 2023 through April, 2024 shows no item in open session or executive session discussing the Laeha case.
OHA CEO Stacy Ferreira and attorney David Minkin did not respond to a request for comment.
What is OHA Hiding?
David Laeha was hired as OHA’s CFO effective May 16, 2017. Twenty months later he was fired by OHA CEO Kamanao Crabbe--apparently to prevent Laeha from testifying before a State Senate committee hearing about OHA’s full $46M budget instead of only the $3M portion of that budget which is funded by the Legislature.
For three years, Laeha’s case languished as Seitz repeatedly threatened to force OHA to submit to discovery and OHA, in response, feigned interest in arbitration. Eventually Seitz brought things to a head with discovery demands including:
7. Copies of any and all contracts between OHA and its vendor(s)/contractor(s) prior to 2018 to provide Geographical Information System (GIS) services similar to the services later provided by Susty HI.
8. Copies of any and all invoices and supporting documents generated by and related to services rendered by Spire Hawaii LLC (Spire) to OHA for the period May, 2017 to January, 2019.
9. All documents, memoranda, correspondence, email, and other communications to and from OHA CEO Kamanao Crabbe regarding Plaintiff David Laeha's denial of a request from Nicole Hind and Crabbe to sponsor/award a monetary grant to Manaola, a for-profit entity and the diversion of payment to Manaola through the Kalihi-Palama Culture and Arts Society.
Akamai readers may remember these relevant items:
7. OHA Procurement Violations: Crabbe, Lindsey and the $435K Beamer May, 2017
8. Financial Services: OHA Spire Contract Balloons 760% in Two Years Jan, 2017
9. OHA’s 2017-18 Check Register shows checks totaling $79,000 made out to the Kalihi-Palama Culture and Arts Society.
By settling the case, OHA keeps its secrets by avoiding the necessity to produce the relevant discovery documents in open court.
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PDF: FY 2023-24 OHA check register (Seitz check on pg 31)
BACKGROUND:
- Jan, 2017: Financial Services: OHA Spire Contract Balloons 760% in Two Years
- Apr, 2017: OHA hires new Chief Financial Officer (Laeha starts May 16, 2017)
- May, 2017: OHA Procurement Violations: Crabbe, Lindsey and the $435K Beamer
- Jan, 2018: OHA Draft Audit: Millions given to those who “know how and who to ask.”
- Dec, 2018: OHA CFO: We Keep Trustees in the Dark About LLCs
- (Laeha suspended Jan 8, 2019, terminated Jan 29, 2019.)
- Mar, 2019: Court: OHA LLCs Subject to UIPA
- Apr, 2019: Secret Timeline Shows OHA Lying to Legislature While Stonewalling LLC Audit
- Apr, 2019: OHA CFO Ousted to Block 'Fair Treatment' of Grant Requests?
- Aug, 2019: OHA: Crabbe Spent Last Month in Office Hiding From Auditors
- Jan, 2021: Ex-CFO: I was fired to keep Legislators from Seeing OHA's True Budget