Taxpayers have footed the bills for nearly $700,000 in attorney fees in the Kealohas’ federal corruption and fraud cases. This is in addition to hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses that have been racked up in state and county-related cases and settlements.
Always Investigating has been seeking costs for court-appointed, publicly funded attorneys for Katherine and Louis Kealoha and their nephew Bobby Nguyen, all of whom claimed they could not afford private counsel.
Today the federal court disclosed to Always Investigating that Katherine’s first attorney, Cynthia Kagiwada, has been paid more than $400,000. Kagiwada asked to be taken off the cases this summer following the guilty verdicts in the corruption case, citing “an irretrievable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.”
Louis’ appointed lawyer, Rustam Barbee, has been paid just over $250,000.
Nguyen’s attorney Randall Hironaka has collected nearly $37,000.
The prosecution has not yet disclosed the costs of their investigations and legal fees.
