Hawaii's Lieutenant Governor Indicted as Corruption Probe Widens
Sylvia Luke, who stepped aside during the investigation, is one of five people now facing charges
By Nathaniel "Beltway" Steele
Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke was indicted Friday, one of five people charged in a corruption investigation that has shadowed Hawaii's state government for months, according to the New York Times.
Luke had already taken a leave of absence while investigators built their case. The Times reports she was among five defendants named in Friday's charges, though the specific counts against her and her co-defendants were not detailed in available reporting.
What happens next — to her office, her leave status, and the four others charged alongside her — is not yet clear from the record available to this desk. Hawaii voters elected Luke to the state's second-highest office; an indictment of a sitting lieutenant governor is a rare and serious event in any state, and the coming arraignment and any plea will determine whether she can continue to serve.
This is a developing story. The Times has not yet published the underlying charging documents, and this desk will follow the arraignment closely.
Read the footnotes. The story's always in the footnotes.
— Compiled from reporting by The New York Times.
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