Prosecutors may have a harder time proving the criminal bribery and conspiracy case against Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke than with the other four defendants she was indicted with Friday by a 1st Circuit Court grand jury.

There is no clear “quid pro quo” to be found in the indictment in which Luke allegedly either asked or was asked to make in exchange for campaign donations in her successful 2022 run for lieutenant governor, according to retired federal deputy public defender Alexander Silvert.

Silvert led the petition that resulted in the state Department of the Attorney General launching the criminal investigation in January that provided the evidence supporting the indictments of Luke; former state Rep. Ryan Yamane, an ex-director of the state Department of Human Services; state Airports Administrator Ford Fuchigami; former Luke campaign official and onetime Public Utilities Commission chairman Leo Asuncion Jr.; and businessman and lobbyist Tobi J. Solidum, who is believed to have fled to the Philippines.

The indictment accuses ­Solidum of four counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and three counts of bribery for allegedly bribing Luke and others with campaign contributions, checks and cash.

All four have declined to comment on Friday’s indictments. Luke announced April 23 she was taking an indefinite, unpaid leave of absence as lieutenant governor. She also ended her reelection campaign.

Solidum was working on the state’s contract with the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii to provide community testing for COVID-19 and told Luke over dinner on Jan. 20, 2022, that the program was providing over half of Hawaii’s COVID testing.

Luke at the time was chair of the state House Committee on Finance while raising campaign funds for her race for lieutenant governor. Also at the dinner at Morton’s The Steakhouse at Ala Moana Center was Solidum’s daughter Kristen Pae and Finance Committee Vice Chair Ty J.K. Cullen, who was secretly working as an FBI informant and recorded the conversation.

According to transcripts of recordings included in the 30-page indictment, Solidum told Luke that “Pae had a couple of checks to give her.” Pae placed an envelope on the table and Luke reportedly put it in her handbag. The envelope contained a $5,000 check from Solidum and a $5,000 check from Pae, both written out to “Friends of Sylvia Luke.”

Solidum told Luke, “By next week we’ll have 35 — so it will be halfway to our 70.”

Luke responded, “Oh, wow,” and, “That’s terrific.”

Solidum continued, “So I’ll get you your 70 but just gotta get to that point, OK? It’s our fundraiser.” He also told Luke he would help pull union support for her.

The following day, Luke ordered the chair of the House Committee on Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness to set up a meeting with government officials to discuss emergency appropriations to the state Department of Health, according to the indictment. Three days later, Luke attended a meeting with government officials to “discuss emergency appropriations to DOH and DOH’s ability to pay for COVID community testing.”

The $5,000 campaign donations from Solidum and Pae went into Luke’s campaign account but were not reported to the state Campaign Spending Commission until this year. Luke and Asuncion were indicted for falsifying candidate committee reports, with Asuncion facing additional charges of use of false statement and obstruction of justice.

Yamane is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and bribery after he allegedly took at least $7,000 to help provide emergency funding from the Legislature. At least $4,500 of it was deposited into his personal credit union account over three transactions in 2021 and 2022, according to the indictment.

Fuchigami is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, use of false statement and obstruction of justice. While working on the staff of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, he allegedly deposited a $7,000 check from Solidum into his bank account on Jan. 31, 2022.

Two days later, on Feb. 2, 2022, Solidum, Yamane and Fuchigami met to discuss the emergency appropriation with DOH, according to the indictment.

Silvert emphasized the differences between the evidence against Luke and Yamane contained in the indictment.

“With Luke, I think the evidence is actually pretty weak,” Silvert said. “It sounds like she’s doing exactly what a legislator does. When she’s told about a problem with a project that’s already been OK’d, she meets with the contractor about that, they discuss it, they discuss a new funding source, and then she goes back to the legislative session and recommends where new money could be found to keep the project going.”

With Yamane, he said, “They’ve got recordings and text messages where he’s accepting money and envelopes and directly depositing it into his personal bank account.”

On Feb. 18, 2020, according to the indictment, Solidum and Yamane exchanged texts that read in part:

Solidum: “I have 1 more check and should have more tomorrow … ”

Yamane: “I cashed yours this morning so I have $2000 … ”

Solidum: “have 1500 and wanted to pick up another 1k here. Mel will leave cash in Manila for you”

Yamane: “Cool”

Later that day, according to the indictment, “Solidum met Yamane at the Capitol and gave Yamane a check and cash. Solidum also arranged for cash to be available for Yamane to pick up in another location.”

Retired Immediate Court of Appeals Judge Dan Foley agreed with Silvert’s assessment of the case against Luke.

Foley led the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct that was created following the 2022 federal guilty pleas by Cullen, former state Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English and wastewater systems executive Milton J. Choy.

But there’s no evidence in the indictment that Luke ever received the additional $70,000, which would have been legal if it had been collected from multiple “bundled” donors, each making smaller, separate contributions.

Foley said the offer of the additional $70,000 could have implied, “Hey, I can get some my friends to also donate to your campaign. I’m not asking you specifically for anything.”

“And that’s going to be part of her defense if this goes to trial,” he said. “So they’re very different cases, absolutely. Whether she’ll prevail or not, she definitely has a defense that Yamane is not going to have.”

While Cullen was working for the FBI, federal investigators likely turned the case over to the state attorney general after the U.S. Supreme Court watered down federal bribery requirements, making it harder to win a conviction in federal court, according to Silvert.

Hawaii Attorney General Anne E. Lopez and Gov. Josh Green appeared reluctant to take over the case until pressure grew following Silvert’s petition, Foley said.

Just as in the aftermath of the English and Cullen cases four years ago, potential legal problems for other state lawmakers could follow Friday’s indictments as the defendants likely consider cooperating with investigators.

And, just as with the fallout from the federal prison sentences issued to English and Cullen, another round of so-called “clean government” bills could be introduced in the upcoming 2027 legislative session on behalf of entities such as Hawaii’s Ethics and Campaign Spending commissions and public interest groups including the League of Women Voters and Common Cause Hawaii.

Ahead of the 2023 legislative session, then-House Speaker Scott Saiki created the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct that made 28 bill recommendations to the Legislature and saw 22 of them become law. But the momentum slowed to a trickle in 2024 and 2025.

While legislators this year increased public financing of political campaigns, which advocates say decreases the influence of individual donors, a separate bill died that would have banned company officials who receive county or state contracts from making campaign donations during the life of the contract.

Neither House Speaker Nadine Nakamura nor Senate President Ron Kouchi responded Saturday to a request for comment on whether they expect similar bills to be introduced in the legislative session that begins in January.

But Judith Wong, president of the League of Women Voters, said: “It’s not pleasant to know that someone that you looked up to, that had done a good job in many ways, is embroiled in all of this. It’s not pleasant for the people who have supported them and the people who voted for them.

“But the process must happen, because unless we hold our elected officials accountable, we can’t expect that the next group of people will be honest and reliable and not participate in this kind of activity.”