An Oʻahu Underground investigative series examining structural forces in Hawaiʻi journalism
I. The Interest
In early 2025, I presented Honolulu Civil Beat with a dossier documenting structural conflicts of interest within Hawaiʻi’s judiciary. The materials included:
- Judge Wilson M.N. Loo’s financial disclosures showing >$1M in K.J.L. Associates plus additional bank and real-estate interests (Hawaii National Bancshares, Loyalty Enterprises)
- Documentation that Wilson Loo served as a Commissioner on the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Commission on Judicial Conduct (Exhibit A)—the body that investigates complaints against judges—while his spouse (listed in Exhibit A) is part of the Luke family network that includes Hawaii National Bank and related Luke entities
- Evidence of the 90-day jurisdictional loophole exploited to evade ethics review (as stated to me in writing by the Commission in response to my complaint, date on file)
- Specific allegations regarding witness coaching during a December 2, 2022 injunction hearing
The response was initially positive. The documents were reviewed. I was told the conflicts warranted investigation.
Then: silence. No follow-up calls. No editorial decisions communicated. The story didn’t die—it was never born.
Exhibits
- A. Wilson Loo financial disclosures
- B. Civil Beat supporters list
- C. Ryan Ozawa employment history
- D. Punahou trustee archive – Omidyar since 2007
- E. Punahou Bulletin – Warren Luke retirement 2019
- F. Punahou Bulletin – Omidyar stepped down 2021
- G. Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation team & board page
- H. Cathy Luke – Hawaiʻi Leadership Forum board
- I. HLF is part of The Omidyar Group / funded by Omidyar ʻOhana Fund
II. The Structural Explanation
The question isn’t whether Civil Beat’s journalists are corrupt. They aren’t. The question is whether Civil Beat’s structure permits investigation of certain networks.
The Personnel Bridge
Ryan Ozawa, a Civil Beat contributor, previously served as Information Security Officer for Hawaii National Bank—the Luke family’s institution (see Exhibit C). The ISO role involves securing client data, internal communications, and financial records. Ozawa moved from an Information Security Officer role at the Luke family’s bank to the newsroom tasked with oversight.
This isn’t accusation; it’s topology. It is professionally and socially difficult for any newsroom to aggressively investigate the former employer of a respected contributor.
The Donor Relationship
Civil Beat lists Warren, Karen, Theresa, and Corey Luke under “Individual Donors – $1-$499” (Exhibit B). The amounts are modest. The relationship is not.
Warren Luke is Chairman and CEO of Hawaii National Bank. He is Judge Wilson Loo’s brother-in-law. Wilson Loo served as a Commissioner on the Judicial Conduct Commission (Exhibit A) while his spouse (listed in Exhibit A) is part of the Luke family network that includes Hawaii National Bank and related Luke entities.
The Boardroom Overlap
Pierre Omidyar has been a Punahou trustee since 2007. Warren Luke served on the board since 1988 and chaired 2008–2009; he retired at the end of the 2018–2019 school year. Their overlap ran twelve years (2007–2019), ending with Luke’s retirement (Exhibits D/E); Omidyar stepped down later in 2021 (Exhibit F). Warren Luke’s daughter Cathy Luke serves on the board of Hawaiʻi Leadership Forum (Exhibit H)—an organization that is part of The Omidyar Group and receives funding from the Omidyar ʻOhana Fund (Exhibit I).
Both families’ names appear on permanent Punahou campus facilities (Omidyar K-1 Neighborhood; Luke Center for Public Service) (Exhibits D/E).
The Pattern
Civil Beat maintains Wilson Loo’s financial disclosures in their own database. They have conducted investigations into judicial conflicts of interest in other Hawaiʻi cases. They have published no substantive investigation into the Luke-Loo network’s documented conflicts. They already possess the raw ingredients for the story—and still won’t touch it.
This is what institutional capture looks like. Not bribes. Not threats. Simply: you cannot investigate friends of donors who sit on the same boards as your publisher. In small states, the decisive constraint is rarely ideology—it’s social cost.
III. The Ecosystem Adjacency
The dossier threatened more than a judge. It threatened the legitimacy engine that converts Luke financial capital into cultural capital.
The Luke Center for Public Service at Punahou is a node linking Luke philanthropy to the school’s civic infrastructure. Heather Williams, now a staff member at Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation, “played a pivotal role in the creation of Punahou School’s innovative Luke Center for Public Service.” She is a personnel bridge from Luke Center creation to the Kōkua ecosystem.
That ecosystem overlaps with North Shore conservation networks. Kōkua’s own board bios list NSCLT roles for both Kawika Kahiapo (board) and Blake McElheny (advisor) (see Exhibit G, Kahiapo and McElheny bios). These are not accusations—they are published affiliations.
Investigating Wilson Loo means scrutinizing the Luke network’s institutions and the civic ecosystem around them—including Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation, co-founded by Jack and Kim Johnson. Civil Beat would have to print the names of their friends.
IV. What Followed
The newsroom silence came later. The network had already acted.
The Hartmann Meeting
Gene and Rita Hartmann are not public figures. Their significance is specific: they are the parents of Pete Johnson’s wife. Pete is Jack Johnson’s brother.
Previously, in a direct meeting, they delivered what I understood as a credible threat against my life. This was not a legal cease-and-desist. It was not delivered through counsel. It was communicated with the confidence of people who appeared to believe there would be no consequences. I reported it; no investigation followed.
The Blackmail
A close associate of Kim Johnson—connected to Hawaiʻi’s tech and funding ecosystem—delivered a direct threat: if I continued to talk about what happened, my career would be destroyed. “What happened” meant the coordinated stalking, the hacking, and the murder threat from the Hartmanns.
The message was not subtle. Stay silent about the network’s conduct, or face professional annihilation.
V. The Verification Problem
These allegations present a specific epistemic challenge.
What is documented:
- Board memberships, donor lists, corporate filings, financial disclosures, employment histories—all public record
- The nodes and edges I describe are published fact; the implications are my analysis
What is firsthand testimony:
- The Hartmann murder threat occurred in a private meeting. I have contemporaneous documentation—notes, communications to third parties immediately after—but no recording.
- The blackmail was delivered directly. It referenced “what happened”—the stalking, the hacking, the Hartmann threat—and made clear the professional consequences of continued disclosure.
These events happened. I am the witness.
The Civil Beat silence is itself unverifiable in its cause. I cannot prove they dropped the story because of donor relationships rather than editorial judgment. I can only document the structural conflicts that existed and the coverage gap that followed.
This is how the system is designed. Accountability mechanisms that leave no paper trail. Social enforcement that requires no conspiracy—only shared class interests.
VI. What Can Be Verified
- Wilson Loo’s financial disclosures are public record
- The Luke family’s corporate holdings are documented in SEC filings and state records
- Board memberships are published by the organizations themselves
- Kōkua’s board bios state that Kawika Kahiapo sits on NSCLT’s board and Blake McElheny advises NSCLT (Exhibit G)
- Civil Beat’s donor list is self-reported
- Ryan Ozawa’s employment history is documented
- Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation’s website states that staff member Heather Williams played a pivotal role in creating Punahou’s Luke Center for Public Service
- The Hartmanns’ family relationship to the Johnsons is corroborable through standard public-record methods (I’m not publishing those records here)
I am not asking anyone to take my word for what happened in private meetings. I am asking them to examine the documented structure and explain why it would produce any outcome other than the one I experienced.
VII. Conclusion
Civil Beat didn’t drop this story because it was false. The network topology points to one explanation: investigating Wilson Loo requires investigating the Luke family, which requires investigating their institutional beneficiaries, which includes the Johnson circle, which includes people who fund Civil Beat and sit on boards with its publisher.
The “Zone of Politeness” isn’t a conspiracy. It’s a network topology. The same interlocking directorates that allow Hawaiʻi’s elite to resolve conflicts privately also prevent those conflicts from becoming public.
In that structural silence, the threat that followed me was possible. Not because anyone ordered it, but because everyone understood that no one would report it.