HONOLULU (AP) — U.S. prosecutors asked a judge Friday to deny bail for an elected Hawaii councilman accused of running a drug-trafficking organization, supplying guns, conspiring with a gang leader, requesting sexual favors as payment for drugs and assaulting a law enforcement officer in a case that highlights the hold methamphetamine has on some people in the state.

Arthur Brun led a major drug-trafficking conspiracy involving 11 other defendants since at least June 2019, while serving as an elected member of the Kauai County Council, U.S. Attorney for Hawaii Kenji Price said.

Brun, vice chair of the council's Public Safety and Human Services Committee, was scheduled to be arraigned Friday in U.S. court in Honolulu. It was not immediately clear if he has an attorney. No one immediately returned a voicemail left Friday on his cellphone while he was in custody.

Prosecutors intend to ask the judge to order Brun held without bail. They say in court documents that Brun obtained meth from a leader of the United Samoan Organization gang and had the drugs mailed to Hawaii from California.

Another co-defendant is a convicted felon who Brun used for protection, prosecutors said.

Brun “sometimes requested sexual favors as repayment for drugs he supplied,” prosecutors said in a motion asking for bail to be denied. They cited phone wiretaps and testimony by a defendant who is hoping for leniency at sentencing in a federal case.

Crystal meth gained a stronghold across the islands long before becoming popular on the U.S. mainland. Mailing or shipping drugs to Hawaii became more common with increased airport security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when it got more difficult to smuggle drugs through air travel.

Court documents say Brun arranged with a co-defendant to purchase a pound of meth to be mailed from California for $9,000. The appetite for the drug is so strong, it's street value in Hawaii can be more than double that amount.

Brun abused drugs himself, prosecutors said.

In October, Kauai police pulled Brun over in a traffic stop after he was seen receiving meth from the gang leader, prosecutors said. As a lieutenant's arm was inside the vehicle trying to take the keys out of the ignition, the car sped off, injuring the officer's arm . During a high-speed chase, Brun threw the pound of meth out of his window, prosecutors said.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/crime/article/Prosecutors-Hawaii-man-led-meth-ring-while-15093156.php#photo-19104461

https://www.canyon-news.com/multimillion-dollar-scheme-that-billed-medicare-cigna-11-8-million-in-fraudulent-medication-claims/105728

HOLLYWOOD- Co-owners and operators, Aleksandr Suris and Maxim Sverdlov, of Royal Care Pharmacy located at 7300 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood were sentenced to 144 months in prison for their roles in a health care fraud scheme where Medicare and CIGNA were billed more than $11.8 million in fraudulent claims for prescription drugs.

From 2012 to 2015, Suris and Sverdlov billed Medicare and CIGNA for prescription medications that Royal Care did not purchase or dispense to beneficiaries. In order to cover the scheme, Suris and Sverdlov obtained fake invoices from co-conspirators to make it appear thatRoyal Care had purchased the medicines for which it had billed Medicare and CIGNA.

Aleksandr Suris, 51, of Sherman Oaks was sentenced to 144 months in prison for six counts of health care fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. U.S. District Judge S. James Otero also ordered Suris to pay a restitution amount of $11,826,444.65 to Medicare and $17,109.39 to CIGNA, and an immediate partial restitution payment of $500,000.

Suris’ partner, Maxim Sverdlov, 45, was also sentenced to 144 months in prison by Judge Otero. Sverdlov is ordered to pay $11,826,444.65 in restitution to Medicare and an immediate partial restitution payment of $500,000.

In total, Suris and Sverdlov submitted more than $11.8 million in false claims to Medicare for prescription drugs that they never purchased or dispensed to patients.

This case was investigated by HHS-OIG, the FBI, IRS-CI and the California Department of Justice, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.