The Hawaii Department of the Attorney General has issued “multiple subpoenas and completed several interviews” as part of its ongoing public corruption investigation, which arose from the federal bribery case that sent two former state lawmakers to prison.

Attorney General Anne E. Lopez held a news conference in Honolulu this morning to address the growing scandal that has consumed Hawaii politics at the start of an election year. On Monday, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that she did not take Opens in a new tab $35,000 in a paper bag at a Jan. 20, 2022, dinner in front of then-colleague Ty J.K. Cullen, but that she may be the lawmaker who federal prosecutors said Cullen recorded at the dinner with a lobbyist and his daughter.

On Jan. 20, Lopez announced a parallel state investigation into the allegations raised in the U.S. Department of Justice probe.

“We have already issued multiple subpoenas and completed several interviews,” Lopez said today. “The criminal investigation must be conducted methodically and carefully.”

“My legal and ethical duties demand that this investigation be done by the book. It is for this reason, that today I can’t answer questions that people are asking. I cannot name names; I cannot tell you what evidence we’ve received; and I can’t tell you whether or not a crime has been committed. Revealing this information could jeopardize not only the right of the … suspects in this investigation but the entire case … I assure the people of Hawaii, we are taking this seriously. I ask for some patience,” she said.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser asked Luke if she received one of the subpoenas issued by the attorney general. Luke did not immediately reply.

Lopez said a team of two deputy attorney generals, two investigators and two analysts are working “day and night” on the criminal investigation. She said she has not received any political pressure to complete the probe before the Aug. 8 primary elections.

“If a crime has been committed, I will prosecute it to the fullest extent of the law,” said Lopez.

On Monday, Luke said she accepted $10,000 in checks for her campaign from two people whom Cullen introduced her to that night, 66-year-old lobbyist Tobi J. Solidum Opens in a new tab and his daughter Kristen Pae.

Luke said she gave back the $10,000 to Solidum and Pae two months later after Cullen and ex-Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Hawaii businessman Milton Choy in the federal case.

Luke said her campaign had not initially reported receiving the $10,000 to the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission because of a “clerical oversight.” Her campaign reported the returned $10,000 donations last week, she said.

The Campaign Spending Commission told the Star-Advertiser this week that it is now investigating if any state laws were broken in the matter.

Luke told the Star-Advertiser Monday that she gave the money back because Cullen was “charged with a crime. The way I knew Tobi was through Ty … I knew them to be close. I felt uncomfortable about keeping the donations from Tobi and his daughter … because of his affiliation with Ty and to some extent, Milton  Opens in a new tab(Choy) Opens in a new tab.”

“For me, because I met with Ty, and then another person (Solidum) who gave me a contribution, for me I’m thinking … the circumstances are that it could be me (the lawmaker that the FBI taped allegedly taking $35,000 in a bag). The fact is I didn’t get $35,000 at that meeting or at that dinner,” she told the Star-Advertiser.

Solidum, who is believed to be in the Philippines, is a target of an ongoing federal public corruption and COVID-19 fraud probe.

Luke said Monday she intends to run for re-election this year and is conducting an internal review of her campaign spending records.

In January 2022, Cullen was working as an FBI informant after he and English were arrested by federal agents for taking bribes from 2014 to 2021 from Choy, the owner of a Honolulu wastewater company. Choy died in federal custody in June 2024.

English was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison in July 2022 and Cullen received a two-year sentence in April 2023. Cullen received less prison time than English because of his “substantial assistance” to the U.S. Department of Justice.