91Ö±²¥

A third 91Ö±²¥ Island man has been sentenced for his role in a conspiracy to pay bribes to a 91Ö±²¥ County official in connection with affordable housing development agreements worth more than $11 million.

Former Big Island attorney Paul Joseph Sulla, 79, of Hilo was sentenced Thursday to 60 months in prison.

Two of his partners in the scheme were sentenced earlier this year.

Attorney Gary Charles Zamber, 56, of Keaau was sentenced in January to 70 months in prison, and former Big Island businessman Rajesh Pankaj Budhabhatti, 65, of Morro Bay, Calif. was sentenced in February to 90 months in prison.

On June 4, 2025, a jury in the District of 91Ö±²¥ convicted Sulla, Zamber and Budhabhatti on all counts of a superseding indictment. The three defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and nine counts of honest services wire fraud for their roles in a scheme to bribe Alan Scott Rudo, a Housing Specialist at the Office of Housing and Community Development. Sulla was also convicted of money laundering.

Rudo, who pleaded guilty and testified at trial, will be sentenced at a later date.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Sulla, Zamber and Budhabhatti conspired to pay bribes and kickbacks to Rudo in exchange for Rudo’s agreement to use his official position to ensure that 91Ö±²¥ County approved three affordable housing agreements (AHAs) benefiting the defendants’ development companies — Luna Loa Developments LLC, West View Developments LLC, and Plumeria at Waikoloa LLC.

Although the defendants promised in the AHAs to build affordable housing for the citizens of 91Ö±²¥ County, their development companies never built a single unit. Through the AHAs, the defendants fraudulently obtained more than $11 million worth of land and excess affordable housing credits.

From that amount, the defendants paid or attempted to pay Rudo approximately $1,931,778 in bribes and kickbacks.

“This wasn’t just corruption — it was a calculated betrayal of the very community the defendants were supposed to serve,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement. “Instead of building homes for struggling families looking for an onramp to a better life, the defendants built a scheme to enrich themselves, paying millions in bribes and kickbacks while pretending to help those in need.

“That kind of greed doesn’t just break the law — it erodes trust, damages institutions, robs honest businesses of opportunities and harms American citizens. The Criminal Division is committed to pursuing those who abuse positions of trust for personal gain.”

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson for the District of 91Ö±²¥ said,“Driven by greed, the defendants sought to enrich themselves at the expense of the 91Ö±²¥an community, diverting millions in much needed affordable housing resources intended to benefit 91Ö±²¥ County’s poor and disadvantaged into the defendants’ own pockets. Public corruption undermines faith in our institutions and will not be tolerated.”

The FBI Honolulu Field Office investigated the case.