Big Island Man Sentenced to 4 Months and Ordered to Pay Over Half a Million Dollars in Restitution for Filing False Tax Return

News Release from U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Hawaii, Wednesday, January 14, 2026

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Ken Sorenson announced that Douglas Mycko, 61, of Kurtistown, Hawaii, was sentenced yesterday in federal court by Senior United States District J. Michael Seabright to four months in federal prison followed by one year of supervised release for making and subscribing a false tax return.  Mycko was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $561,587.91.  He pled guilty pursuant to a plea agreement in August 2025.

As part of his guilty plea, Mycko admitted to filing false tax returns for calendar years 2016 through 2020 in which he underreported his business income, resulting in losses to the federal government in the amount of $244,121.00 and to the State of Hawaii in the amount of $280,308.91.  Mycko further admitted that despite working and continuing to operate his business from 2020 through 2023, he applied for and obtained unemployment benefits through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (“PUA”) program by making false and fraudulent representations regarding his unemployment status and absence of income. As a result of this fraudulent conduct, Mycko received $37,158.00 in PUA funds that he was not entitled to receive.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.  The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.  For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) at 866-720-5721 or online at www.justice.gov/DisasterComplaintForm.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aislinn Affinito prosecuted the case.