Dawson LLC Settlement: Charges, Forfeiture, and Company Status

The Dawson LLC embezzlement case is a federal investigation and civil forfeiture action accusing the late founder of Hawaii’s DAWSON family of defense contracting companies, along with two former executives, of diverting roughly $17 million in federal contract money between 2015 and 2021. The funds were supposed to support Native Hawaiians through the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program. Prosecutors say they instead paid for luxury homes, Porsches, private jet travel, and a polo operation. No one has been criminally charged, and the founder, Christopher Dawson, died by suicide in December 2024.¹²

Who DAWSON Is and Where the Money Was Supposed to Go

DAWSON is the brand name for eleven for-profit subsidiaries owned by Hawaiian Native Corporation, a nonprofit. The companies handle cybersecurity, construction, environmental remediation, unexploded ordnance clearance, and facility maintenance for the federal government, and collectively have won more than $2 billion in federal contracts.³

Most of that work came through the SBA’s 8(a) program, which lets qualifying disadvantaged-owned firms receive no-bid government contracts. For a Native Hawaiian Organization like Hawaiian Native Corporation, the program requires that profits flow back to support Native Hawaiian culture, education, and economic development. That requirement is why the diversion is a federal case rather than a private business dispute.⁴

What Prosecutors Say Happened

According to the Department of Justice, Christopher Dawson, former Chief Financial Officer Bryan Hara, and former President and Chief Operating Officer Billy Cress set up shell companies and used fabricated invoices to pull money out of the contracting business. One shell entity, called “Dawson Group,” received about $17 million between 2015 and 2021. Prosecutors say that was nearly double what went to Hawaiian Native Corporation for its community mission over the same years.¹²

Court filings describe what the money paid for. Luxury homes in Hawaii and Florida. Private jet travel. Porsches. More than $1.6 million invested in a polo farm on Oahu’s North Shore. $25,000 a month funneled to “Hawaii Polo Life,” which prosecutors called a shell company for Dawson’s personal brand. Dawson’s salary had grown to $946,500 a year by 2019, and over $2.3 million in personal credit card charges were paid with company funds across a three-year period.²

Hara and Cress are named in DOJ filings as participants in the alleged scheme, but neither has been charged with a crime as of early 2026.²

How the Case Came to Light

Federal agents made the investigation public in June 2023, when IRS agents and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service executed a search warrant at Hawaiian Native Corporation’s Honolulu headquarters and seized computers and cellphones.³

Two whistleblower lawsuits preceded the raid. In 2018, former senior manager Eugene Sellers sued in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, alleging false certifications to the SBA, labor and timecard fraud, and the use of affiliated companies to submit invoices that circumvented federal acquisition rules. That case settled confidentially in 2020.⁵ In 2021, former executive Lyan DeSouza filed a second suit, saying he was fired after raising concerns about fraudulent payments to subcontracting firms controlled by company executives, and alleging that CFO Bryan Hara was withdrawing large sums and writing them off as personal loans to Christopher Dawson. That case also resolved through a confidential settlement, in 2023.⁶

Property the Government Wants to Seize

Five months after the raid, the DOJ filed a civil forfeiture action targeting four assets it says were purchased between 2017 and 2021 with embezzled money. The combined value exceeds $8.2 million:

A $3.5 million beachfront home on Oahu’s North Shore.
A luxury condominium at Ala Moana in Honolulu.
A six-bedroom estate in Wellington, Florida. A cash-out refinance on this home transferred $951,620 into a personal account, according to court records.
$592,960 held as a deposit toward a separate $3.4 million Ala Moana condominium.

Prosecutors also identified an additional $1.4 million Florida home purchased almost exclusively with funds from one of the 8(a) companies, and they are pursuing nearly $600,000 held in a bank account.⁷⁸

Hawaiian Native Corporation’s current leadership has said publicly that the company is cooperating with the DOJ on the sale of the forfeited properties so that proceeds can be “properly directed.”¹

Christopher Dawson’s Death and the Family’s Denial

Christopher Dawson died by suicide on December 19, 2024, at age 62, about eighteen months after the federal raid. The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.³

His sister, Donne Dawson, who serves as the Hawaii state film commissioner, has publicly defended him. Through attorney William Harrison, the Dawson estate has formally denied the embezzlement allegations and moved to dismiss the forfeiture case. Donne Dawson has argued that her brother was the victim of a “hostile takeover” by people he trusted and was coerced into stepping down under threats of criminal and civil penalties.⁸

Where the Companies Stand Now

After the 2023 raid, Christopher Dawson stepped down as chairman and was eventually terminated. His sister Donne and his mother, Beatrice Dawson, were removed from the board. Allen Hoe became chairman and president of Hawaiian Native Corporation, Dave Johnson was promoted from COO to CEO of the DAWSON companies, and former federal lobbyist Andy Winer joined the board.⁸

In early 2024, the SBA sent a letter threatening to suspend or terminate the DAWSON companies from the 8(a) program, citing evidence of fund diversion. The companies entered an administrative agreement with the SBA that included enhanced compliance mandates and hired a forensic accountant. Company officials have maintained that the investigation targets individual employees rather than the corporate entities, and that no formal finding of wrongdoing has been issued against the companies themselves.²

Federal contracts kept coming during the investigation. A $3.4 million Navy contract was awarded days after the 2023 raid. The firm won a $52 million federal contract for debris removal on Maui after the 2023 Lahaina wildfire and continued work at the Navy’s Red Hill fuel storage facility.¹

Current Status of the Case

The DOJ’s criminal investigation remains active, and the civil forfeiture case is ongoing. No criminal charges have been filed against any individual. The case has not produced a settlement between DAWSON and the government; the administrative agreement with the SBA is separate from the criminal probe and the forfeiture action, both of which continue.⁹

1
Honolulu Civil Beat. Justice Department: Well-Known Hawaiian Defense Contractor Embezzled Funds
2
ProPublica. He Spent Funds Meant for Native Hawaiians on Polo and Porsches
3
Honolulu Civil Beat. Native Hawaiian Contractor Chris Dawson Dead
4
News From The States. Fraud Magnet: Top Senator Wants to Halt SBA Contracts, Citing Hawaii Case
5
PACER Monitor. United States of America et al v. Hawaiian Native Corp. et al
6
Honolulu Civil Beat. Hawaii SBA Native Indigenous Nonprofit Oversight
7
U.S. News & World Report. Justice Department Says Well-Known Hawaiian Defense Contractor Embezzled Funds
8
Honolulu Civil Beat. Embezzler or Victim: Native Hawaiian Contractor’s Family Fights Back
9
ProPublica. SBA 8(a) Native Hawaiian Republican Senate Oversight