Former Hawaii County official sentenced in affordable housing scheme

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A former Hawaii County official was sentenced Thursday for his role in a multimillion-dollar affordable housing scheme.

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Alan Scott Rudo, 59, was sentenced to 46 months, or nearly four years, in prison, for accepting over $1.9 million in bribes and kickbacks while working as a housing specialist in the county Office of Housing and Community Development.

According to court documents, two Hawaii Island attorneys — Paul Joseph Sulla, 79, and Gary Charles Zamber, 56 — and a businessman, Rajesh Pankaj Budhabhatti, 65, conspired to pay Rudo in exchange for his approval on three affordable housing agreements.

Through these agreements, Sulla, Zamber, and Budhabhatti fraudulently obtained more than $11 million worth of land and excess affordable housing credits, prosecutors said.

But their development companies never built a single unit.

Rudo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and testified at trial.

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Following a three-week trial, Sulla, Zamber, and Budhabhatti were convicted last June of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and nine counts of honest services wire fraud. Sulla was also convicted of money laundering.

Zamber was sentenced to 70 months (nearly six years), Budhabhatti was sentenced to 90 months (seven and a half years), and Sulla received a five-year sentence.

Zamber and Sulla also had their law licenses suspended, prohibiting them from practicing in Hawaii.

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