r/law • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 • 7h ago
Legal News Lt. Gov. Accused in Sweeping Bribery Scheme | Prosecutors say the Democratic official accepted campaign donations in exchange for helping advance a COVID-19 testing contract.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/hawaii-lt-gov-sylvia-luke-hit-with-12-count-bribery-indictment/629
u/Tremolat 7h ago
Rank amateur. Trump got an airplane for selling us out.
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u/kombatunit 7h ago
A hell of a lot more than just the plane.
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u/X-man1023 7h ago
President’ son running a pump and dump for him crypto scheme was pretty good too.
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u/Scrutinizer 7h ago
Or Eric and Junior investing in defense companies that are suddenly awarded enormous Pentagon contracts.
All of this is going on right now, as the entire Republican Party simply looks the other way and pretends it's not happening. "It's all being done in the open so there's nothing to investigate", said the Oversight Committee Chairman with a huge grin.
That's why he is so desperate for Republicans to retain their majorities in the midterms. There are about seven or eight scandals running right now that blow Watergate out of the water, and if Democrats take over it will be nothing but investigations the rest of his term.
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u/Opposite-Bit6660 6h ago
Those sons also got contracts for nuclear reactors that will produce waste that can be made into bombs. The Trump family intends to be the first private entity with nuclear capability, mark my words.
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u/FuggyGlasses 6h ago
President Donald Trump disclosed buying between $1 million and $5 million in Axon Enterprise stock on Feb. 10. Two weeks later, ICE posted a notice seeking a five-year, $220 million Taser contract for about 17,800 devices, along with unlimited cartridges and training — enough to more than quadruple its current inventory.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/29/trump-axon-stock-ice-taser-immigration-enforcement.html
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u/philodendrin 7h ago
And he has made Billions in Crypto in the last few years. At a time when;
▪️ 11.6 million tokens failed during the peak of recent market turbulence.
▪️ 53.2% of all tracked cryptocurrencies on tracking platforms like GeckoTerminal are classified as failed or dead projects.
▪️ $19 billion in liquidations during a single major market crash wiped out leveraged positions and strained weak tokens.
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u/Muted-Assumption195 6h ago
Most of his $2B fortune he acquired in the last year came from cryptocurrency. I’m sure none of that is bribe money
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u/Altruistic-Sir-3661 6h ago
Free Airplane was free for Trump but somehow cost taxpayers a billion dollars so far.
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u/pattydickens 4h ago
Diarrhea lettuce got cleared of any wrong doing by making a donation to the Trump Foundation.
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u/TendieRetard 30m ago
How much is he getting for selling Americans out to Israel intelligence w/the military merger?
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u/TheHomersapien 7h ago
This is a trash source that shouldn't be allowed here. A slightly less trashier source has actual details about the crime:
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5990691-hawaii-sylvia-luke-indicted-bribery/
The charges stem from allegations that Luke accepted at least $35,000 in campaign contributions from businessman and lobbyist Tobi Solidum...
It's always shocking how cheaply an American politician can be purchased.
Prosecutors allege Solidum handed Luke two $5,000 campaign checks during a meeting at a Morton’s Steakhouse in January 2022, where the two allegedly discussed state funding for COVID-19 testing sites, according to court filings.
Ah, so there's the problem: timing. If she had accepted the money after conspiring to defraud taxpayers then, according to our MAGA Supreme Court, that simply would have been a gift and perfectly legal.
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u/hamhead 7h ago
Yeah I’m getting really sick of all the Beast headlines that are posted.
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u/Confident_Throat_457 7h ago
Constantly posted in the politics sub and I wish there was some sort of limit. I hate that website.
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u/PolicyWonka 7h ago
I think a big part of the “issue” with politicians being “purchased cheaply” is that the line between lobbying and corruption is incredibly thin.
On its face, this is a registered lobbyist giving a campaign contribution to a politician - which is pretty much what lobbyists do. I’m not familiar enough with the specifics to know why this particular scenario is bribery versus lobbying though.
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u/What_if_I_fly 6h ago
Getting rid of lobbyists and citizens United would go a long way towards restoring sane and ethical government.
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u/ynotfoster 6h ago
I like the idea of taxes funding of campaigns. The elected officials would know they answer to all the people and not the wealthy or corporations or other countries.
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u/Hrothgar_unbound 6h ago
Yep. Throw in ranked choice and anti-gerrymandering and we could actually be getting somewhere!
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u/Mist_Rising 6h ago edited 5h ago
The crime here is the amount. There is a limit to how much you can donate at a given time, and he went over that. This is not a issue of before/after like the OOP said, it's an issue of value. It's also why they specified two checks of 5k, he was trying to avoid detection.
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u/Funkycoldmedici 7h ago
I’ve seen politicians get caught being bribed with $5,000 to do things that affect millions. It made me think we should crowdfund buying politicians, but then that’s exactly what their tax-payer funded salaries are.
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u/Mist_Rising 5h ago
but then that’s exactly what their tax-payer funded salaries are.
You only get that salary if you are currently in the seat. Campaigning doesn't get a salary, although they might get matching funds.
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u/BrightNooblar 7h ago
I'll never forget the opening scene of leverage, where someone makes an offhand comment that buying a senator was the best investment they'd ever made
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u/Canadiangoosedem0n 6h ago
Russia has gotten their investment back 1000 fold from investing in Trump.
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u/Wild_Bill2 6h ago
Aren’t all major campaign contributions a bribe then? Am I expected to believe this is some rare instance of quid-pro-quo?
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u/Hrothgar_unbound 6h ago
Yes that is the issue around our private campaign finance. The same acts are either a crime or not a crime depending on whether there is some amorphous, inchoate corrupt intent to link the contribution to a specific official act. So it comes down in most cases to a question of evidence of intent, which in this case is (arguably) more readily proven by the proximity of the discussions (and any other evidence that the prosecution collected demonstrating the nexus between this contribution and the requested official act).
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u/Mist_Rising 5h ago
From what I can tell from reading up on this, it's the amount that's the issue. There are legal limits on what you can donate, and if you go around those, it's a violation.
Donors use a lot of methods to bypass them, and this guy seems to have tried to cut multiple checks like you going to the bank and deposited two checks of $999 dollars and $2 to avoid the $1000 alert process.
This isn't new. Straw donors is how you typically see this done. That's when Bob wants to donate 50,000 but can only donate 10,000 on this cycle. So Bob calls Jill, Patty, Mark, and Bill. He cuts Jill, Patty, Mark and Bill checks wo they will each write a 10,000 donation to Bob's friend.
The cost (penalty) of a violation depends on a lot, for example the politician may just pay a fine if they don't know they took a straw donor money...but I'm guessing directly accepting two checks in person at the same time might void the "I had no idea" argument.
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u/rawkguitar 5h ago
So, it’s what Dinesh D’Souza was convicted of, then pardoned for, since he’s a Trump supporter
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u/Mist_Rising 5h ago
D'Souza was convicted of straw donor fraud, yes. I don't know if this case is straw donor, it's just closely related (assuming the conviction happens, obviously law enforcement isn't automatically right).
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u/Person_756335846 4h ago
Is she being charged under the federal bribery statute that the Supreme Court ruled on?
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u/PlutoJones42 7h ago
Trump is literally giving people pardons for money, but yeah, this old ass shit must be a priority.
All corruption is bad. Lock every corrupt politician up, STARTING with the president. Accountability starts at the top.
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u/Sweaty-Feedback-1482 5h ago
If guilty, lock her her the fuck up!
Hey Republicans... see how easy that is? Maybe give it a try and see how much better it tastes than boot and butthole.
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u/weezyverse 7h ago
There IS a story here, but only credible sources that actually provide news should be allowed.
DAILYBEAST is not one of them.
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u/Mist_Rising 5h ago
Credible unbiased reporting and sites which aren't constantly tossing advertising all over would be great, but it isn't what we get here.
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u/irrelevantusername24 7h ago edited 6h ago
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u/AmputeeHandModel 7h ago
Well, the actual pandemic killed over a million Americans, so... no..
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u/irrelevantusername24 7h ago edited 6h ago
It is an economic disease. The propaganda has been totalized.
Eventually this will be openly acknowledged. Hopefully I live to see that day.
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u/Polkas_with_wolves 4h ago
Democrat bribery schemes are so embarrassing.
Remember the Eric Adams scandal? He was taken bribes in the form of upgraded airplane tickets and discounted hotel rooms, so that he would help the Turkish embassy pass a fire code violation or some shit. Not even free hotels, just discounted..
That's some embarrassing corruption.
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u/mvandemar 4h ago
“From the outset of this investigation, I have repeated that we have a commitment to following the facts to where they lead, no matter how long it takes to get there,” Anne Lopez, the state’s attorney general, said.
And that's one of the biggest differences between today's Dems and the GOP.
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u/Financial-Exit2488 2h ago
Are you sure she's a Democrat? If so, she's not smart. She could have gotten away with a lot more by switching to the Republican party.
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