United States Asserts New Civil Forfeiture Theory Alleging Michael J. Miske Committed Suicide to Obstruct Criminal Forfeiture Proceeding

News Release from U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Hawaii, Monday, March 9, 2026

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Ken Sorenson announced that the government has moved for leave to amend its civil forfeiture complaint regarding the criminal proceeds of Michael J. Miske (“Miske”).  The motion is based on evidence uncovered in an ongoing criminal investigation showing that Miske and others conspired to obstruct an earlier criminal forfeiture proceeding by smuggling fentanyl into prison so that Miske could die by overdose and thereby thwart the forfeiture of his criminal proceeds, estimated at over $20 million.

According to court documents, Miske was in prison pending sentencing at the time of his death on or about December 1, 2024, having been convicted by a federal jury on July 18, 2024 of racketeering conspiracy, murder, and 11 other felony charges.  On July 24, 2024, in a related criminal forfeiture proceeding, the jury also found 27 assets seized from Miske forfeitable as property constituting or derived from proceeds of Miske’s racketeering activity.  Miske’s death, however, resulted in the abatement of the criminal proceeding and criminal forfeiture proceeding.  This abatement thwarted the government’s effort to obtain title to the assets subject to forfeiture because it terminated the criminal forfeiture proceeding.  The government subsequently filed a civil forfeiture action as to those assets.

As alleged in court documents, an ongoing criminal investigation has uncovered evidence that Miske conspired with others to smuggle fentanyl into the Federal Detention Center, Honolulu (“FDC Honolulu”), which Miske used to commit suicide.  Miske’s motivation in committing suicide was to interfere with the government’s criminal forfeiture of Miske’s seized assets, based upon advice Miske had received from his attorney(s).  Miske arranged to provide a vehicle to another inmate who had been released from federal custody on conditions of supervised release.  The vehicle was payment for the inmate deliberately violating his release conditions and smuggling fentanyl for Miske into FDC Honolulu when arrested and remanded into custody.  Miske used small amounts of fentanyl in the day(s) leading up to his suicide, believing it would mislead investigators into thinking his death was an accidental overdose.  As noted in court filings, the criminal investigation is still ongoing.

“Our criminal prosecution of Michael Miske demonstrated that he was a thug who used robbery, felony assaults, drug trafficking, fraud, chemical weapons attacks on his competitors, murder, and criminal obstruction to terrorize and intimidate Hawaii for many years,” said United States Attorney Ken Sorenson.  “When he was found guilty by a brave Hawaii jury, Miske then resorted to a plan to frustrate the lawful forfeiture of his criminally derived property by scheming to kill himself while in federal custody awaiting sentencing.  Today’s amended complaint demonstrates our solemn resolve to pursue criminally derived proceeds and deny criminals like Miske the power to dictate the fate of their ill-gotten gains.”

The assertions in the proposed second amended civil forfeiture complaint are merely accusations, and any potential defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.  In the case of conviction, any sentence would be imposed by a United States District Judge based on the statutory sentencing factors and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The FBI is investigating the criminal case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aislinn K. Affinito and Joseph McGinley and Trial Attorney Stephanie Williamson of the Money Laundering, Narcotics, and Forfeiture Section are prosecuting the civil forfeiture case.

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PDF: MiskeAssetForfeitureAmendedComplaint | DocumentCloud

ILind: Did Mike Miske organize a conspiracy to nullify the jury’s forfeiture verdict? | i L i n d

CB: It’s unclear if prosecutors are pursuing charges against the inmates they say conspired to smuggle fentanyl into the facility