One of the partners of the Native Hawaiian Holding Company indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco in March has entered a plea of not guilty. Quin Rudin (aka Dean Rubin, aka David Rubin,) who’s held behind bars on a 'no bail' status, is accused of fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in cash and equipment from Cisco Systems, Inc.  

The status conference for this matter is now scheduled for June 8, 2013.

NHHC is currently in a dispute with the local government after the ASG Department of Human Resources held off on making the last payment of $1.5 million to NHHC, citing “questionable costs and failure to comply with conditions of contract” for the $3.2 million that was already paid out.

The NHHC was contracted by ASG to provide training and employment in the contact center industry for 900 NEG participants and was also supposed to operate job placement and supportive services in a setting that would serve as part of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Workforce System.

This project was funded by the US Department of Labor’s National Emergency Grant (NEG) and was administered by the local Department of Human Resources.

Rudin is facing two counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to a press release issued by the Department of Justice. 

The press release notes that the federal charges against Rudin are only allegations and he is innocent until proven guilty.

The FBI arrested Rudin in San Diego last month where he made his initial appearance in federal court. Queries and phone calls to Rudin and Michael McDonald — NHHC’s local Manager — were not answered at that time.

Last month, the local government noted they had grave concerns about the indictment of Rudin and have referred everything pertaining to the NHHC and the ASNEG to the Attorney General’s office, according to Human Resources Director Le’i Sonny Thompson.

The HR Director noted Rudin is a signatory to the contract between NEG and NHHC.

Le’i, in a letter sent last month informing Dennis Kanahele, the NHHC CEO of this move said, from now on that any correspondence to Human Resources pertaining to their contractual obligations with the NEG must be sent to the ASG Attorney General's office.