Atttorney investigated in contract killer probe claims she was actually a victim of extortion

Hawaii News Now ^ | February 23, 2024 | Lynn Kawano

[Jyotishi]

[Video] The FBI is investigating an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting a federal judge and the special prosecutor involved in an upcoming public corruption trial.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -- The attorney under federal investigation in a shocking contract killer case claimed in court on Friday that she was actually the victim of extortion. It’s yet another twist in a sprawling public corruption trial. Defendant Sheri Tanaka remains free on bail after a magistrate judge Friday declined to modify conditions of her pretrial release.

She’s one of six people facing trial for bribery-related charges in the corruption case. Pretrial services filed a motion to review bail conditions last week saying the defendant posed a “danger” to people in the community.

But her attorney, Mark Mermelstein, told the court there is no evidence to support that claim.

Mermelstein said in a statement that Tanaka was actually a victim of extortion that she “paid money to the extortionists to stop them” from harming her and her family.

In shocking development, defendant in public corruption case now part of contract killer probe

The statement continued, “It appears that an informant told the government that this payment was for something else entirely.”

HNN Investigates reported Thursday that the FBI’s Arizona office was investigating Tanaka in a murder-for-hire case. During Friday’s hearing, it was revealed that federal authorities took her phone and electronics on January 23, while executing a search warrant at her home.

According to the search warrant, the FBI believed Tanaka and a relative, prominent businessman Michael Irish, had evidence or knowledge of conspiracy to murder a government official, influencing or injuring an officer of the court and tampering with a witness or informant. The day after the search warrant was executed on Tanaka’s residence and Irish’s Kalihi business, U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright recused himself from the bribery case — a surprise change just weeks ahead of trial.

HNN Investigates Special prosecutor Michael Wheat is also a reported target of the hitman scheme. Both Wheat and Seabright have had around-the-clock protection from deputy U.S. Marshals since the investigation began.

While the alleged murder for hire plan is in Hawaii, it has to be investigated by the FBI’s Arizona office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office out of Arizona.

“The entire network of law enforcement in Hawaii is basically conflicted out of investigating the case because they work all together and they work with Judge Seabright they work with Michael Wheat,” said Alexander Silvert, a retired federal public defender.

A U.S. District Court Judge out of Alaska will replace Seabright as the presiding judge over the trial in the bribery case, which is set to begin on March 12.

Tanaka has been out on bail since October 2022, when she was arrested, joining the case against longtime Honolulu city prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro and campaign donors from engineering firm Mitsunaga and Associates.

Tanaka, an attorney, represented those campaign donors and the firm.

Kaneshiro is accused of using his power to retaliate against a former Mitsunaga and Associates employee who sued for discrimination after being fired.

Tanaka has not violated any conditions of her pretrial release since the arrest so Silvert said he is not surprised that the magistrate judge did not change the conditions of her bail given the fact that no one from Arizona appeared during the hearing to prevent evidence that Tanaka is indeed a danger.

Michael Irish’s attorney, Michael Proctor, told HNN Investigates that his client is a “witness” in the case and that he is not accused of any wrongdoing.