Ten federal employees from Hawaii were honored in Washington, D.C. for their work breaking up a major organized crime operation run by Honolulu businessman Micah "Kai" Miske.

• The Justice Department gave its Director's Award to agents and attorneys from the FBI, IRS, Homeland Security, and the EPA for their roles in the years-long case.
• Investigators say Miske's enterprise involved murder, kidnapping, drugs, fraud, robbery, and even chemical weapons, making it an unusually complex prosecution.
• Miske was convicted in 2024 but died by suicide months later while in federal detention.
• The government is now pursuing a multimillion-dollar civil case to seize his homes, boats, art, and cash, arguing they were bought with criminal proceeds; family members and banks are also staking claims to the assets.

Outlook: A settlement conference on dividing up the seized assets is set for May, and if the parties can't agree, a jury trial will decide how the property is split.