A 46-year-old Kauai woman faces federal charges after she was indicted for allegedly taking more than $126,026 in relief funds intended for people struggling to pay rent during the pandemic.
Kaiaulani C. Kaiawe, also known as “Coty K. Duhaylongsod,” 46, of Kapaa, was charged Dec. 12 in an eight-count indictment accusing her of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering in connection with “fraudulent claims for pandemic-related rental and utility assistance,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Kaiawe allegedly submitted claims seeking nearly $250,000 in federal rental relief funds.
Kaiawe is represented by attorney Cynthia A. Kagiwada. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg P. Yates is prosecuting the case. The investigation was conducted by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Kaiawe is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court this morning.
She is charged with four counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of money laundering. Each of the wire fraud counts carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
Each of the aggravated identity theft counts carries a sentence of two years in prison, and the money- laundering count carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or “up to twice the amount of criminally- derived property involved in the transaction,” according to federal prosecutors.
From May 13, 2021, through Jan. 11, 2022, Kaiawe allegedly did “knowingly devise and intend to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud, that is to deceive and cheat,” to obtain rental relief funds by submitting claims for assistance on behalf of herself, using her married, middle and maiden names to create two identifies, the names of family members, acquaintances and “a fictitious individual.”
The victims on whose behalf Kaiawe submitted claims were “not aware at the time that Kaiawe” was using their identities to apply for rental assistance, and they did not consent, according to federal prosecutors.
Kauai’s Coronavirus Rent and Utilities Assistance program required eligible claimants to submit an application electronically, using its website, and to provide certain personal information of the claimant, including his or her name and date of birth, “as well as a landlord or property manager contact, before certifying that the representations made in the claim were true and accurate.”
If the credit union approved the claim, rental payments were sent directly to the claimant’s landlord or property manager, and utility payments were sent directly to the utility company, according to federal prosecutors.
The indictment alleges that Kaiawe submitted a false CRUA claim “on her own behalf, using her former name, Coty Duhaylongsod, as the claimant, and then listing her then-current name, Kaiawe, as her landlord to improperly receive a CRUA benefit payment,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Kaiawe then allegedly submitted “multiple other false CRUA claims using the personal information of others as claimants, without their knowledge and consent, and then falsely listing herself as their landlord or property manager to obtain additional benefit payments that she was not entitled to receive.”
She listed the names of acquaintances as the landlords or property managers of the claimants, “without their knowledge or consent, well knowing at the time that these acquaintances were not the landlords or property managers of the claimants.”
She allegedly entered an address for the landlord or property manager to receive payment “that was within sight of her own home.”
“Kaiawe allegedly intended to access and did access the mailbox of the address that she provided in the CRUA application to intercept the rental assistance payment when it was delivered,” according to the indictment.
She also allegedly “provided false and altered documentation to support each CRUA claim” that she submitted using other people’s identities.
