An attorney representing the estate of the late Hawai\u02bbi crime boss Michael J. Miske Jr. is accusing federal prosecutors of trying to bilk Miske\u2019s 9-year-old granddaughter out of her inheritance.<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors maintain that Miske purposefully overdosed on fentanyl<\/a> he had smuggled into prison in late 2024 to prevent the government from seizing his assets. Because Miske died before he was sentenced, a judge was obligated to dismiss his case. But his suicide itself represents obstruction of justice, federal attorneys argue, and allows the government to take control of his $20 million estate.<\/p>\n In a filing on Monday, a lawyer for Miske\u2019s trust called the government\u2019s theory full of \u201cfatal flaws\u201d and that the time for asset forfeiture has long expired. If the government succeeds, the lawyer wrote, it would only harm an \u201cinnocent child who bears no responsibility for any of the conduct alleged.\u201d<\/p>\n In July 2024, a jury found Miske guilty of 13 federal counts<\/a> related to his operation of a vast criminal enterprise that engaged in drug trafficking, robberies and murder for hire. The same jury a week later decided to allow the government to take control of his properties<\/a>, which included more than $20 million in houses, boats, cars, cash, artwork and other items prosecutors say were somehow connected to his crimes.<\/p>\n But when Miske was found dead in his cell of a drug overdose at Honolulu\u2019s Federal Detention Center on Dec. 1, 2024 \u2014 about two months before he was scheduled to be sentenced \u2014 the government\u2019s forfeiture process was halted. <\/p>\n In a court filing earlier this month, federal prosecutors for the first time accused Miske of conspiring with other inmates to have fentanyl smuggled into the facility. They said he started taking small amounts of the drug in the days leading up to his death to trick investigators into thinking he died of an accidental overdose and accused him of obstruction of justice and interfering with the forfeiture proceeding. <\/p>\n In an opposition brief filed Monday, the attorney for Miske\u2019s trust, San Francisco-based lawyer Edward Burch, called the federal prosecutors\u2019 assertion a \u201cnovel, unprecedented theory\u201d made up to try to seize whatever assets they can. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are vigorously opposing the government\u2019s attempt to advance a legal theory that no court in the country has ever recognized for good reason,\u201d Burch said in a statement emailed to Civil Beat. \u201cIt goes against the letter and spirit of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n An \u2018Invented\u2019 Theory, Lawyer Says<\/p>\n One reason federal prosecutors lobbed the new obstruction of justice accusation at Miske is to try to tie his properties to a more recent crime, Burch argued in his brief. <\/p>\n Civil forfeiture law says the government must file to seize assets within five years of discovering the crime to which the properties are supposedly tied. Federal investigators started investigating Miske for fraud as early as 2013, meaning more than 12 years had passed by the time prosecutors filed their forfeiture complaint in January 2025. <\/p>\n \u201cThe government missed its legal deadline to bring this case, and invented a new theory to work around it,\u201d the brief says.<\/p>\n Burch also argues the government can only seize proceeds obtained as the result of obstruction of justice, per the Civil Forfeiture Reform Act. If Miske\u2019s suicide is obstruction of justice in the government\u2019s eyes, none of his properties were obtained as a result, the brief says. Nearly all of his assets were purchased between 2010 and 2020, years before his death in federal custody. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Trust did not receive these properties because Miske died; it continued to retain what it already held when the criminal forfeiture proceeding abated upon his death,\u201d the brief says. \u201cRetaining pre-existing property is not obtaining proceeds.\u201d<\/p>\n What Burch called the government\u2019s \u201cdoomed attempt\u201d to take Miske\u2019s property will only hurt one person \u2014 Miske\u2019s 9-year-old granddaughter, who has been the beneficiary of his trust since 2016. She is the daughter of Miske\u2019s late son, Caleb, and Caleb\u2019s wife, Delia Fabro-Miske, who was charged with racketeering conspiracy for her role in the Miske enterprise and was sentenced in April 2025 to seven years<\/a> in federal prison.<\/p>\n Taking away the assets would mean stripping the granddaughter of \u201cthe only long-term financial security she has,\u201d Burch said in his filing. <\/p>\n Burch also questions the factual basis of federal prosecutors\u2019 theory. <\/p>\n Prosecutors relied heavily on testimony from inmates incarcerated with Miske, who told investigators that Miske intended to kill himself to prevent the government from seizing his assets. The inmates told federal agents Miske conspired with a former inmate who was out on supervised release to get re-arrested and smuggle fentanyl into the facility. <\/p>\n Burch said the government relied on \u201cdubious third-party statements\u201d and pointed out that Miske isn\u2019t alive to tell his side of the story or be cross-examined. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Trust is asked to litigate the most critical fact in the case \u2014 whether Miske\u2019s death was intentional and motivated by a desire to obstruct forfeiture \u2014 with no ability to contest it through the person who would know,\u201d the brief says. <\/p>\n U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n