Other UH Employees to Face Investigation Re Stevie Wonder

New UH chancellor Tom Apple. Photo courtesy of KHVH/Vimeo.com.

By Rodney S. Yap

As many as six more University of Hawaii officials in different departments may face review in their respective roles to the botched Stevie Wonder fundraising concert that remains under investigation following the suspensions of athletic director Jim Donovan and Rich Sheriff, the manager of Stan Sheriff Center earlier this week.

An external investigation commissioned by UH likely will extend beyond the athletic department and include the finance office and, possibly, the general counsel’s office, according to a Star-Advertiser report.

For UH officials the key question in the investigation is who authorized a $200,000 wire transfer to a Florida bank and who approved contracts and agreements for the ill-fated concert.

Meanwhile, the FBI has begun a criminal investigation and has told UH officials it can find no trace of the $200,000 the university wired to a Florida bank account said to be involved in the bogus fundraising concert for UH athletics planned for Aug. 18 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

FBI Special Agent Tom Simon acknowledged that the FBI has been contacted by UH officials, but said he could not comment further.

UH officials contacted the Hono­lulu FBI office because “we suspected early on we might be victims of interstate fraud,” new chancellor Tom Apple told the Honolulu newspaper on Thursday.