Isaac Choy, the former vice president of finance and acting chief administrative officer at the Hawai i Tourism Authority, is pursuing a wrongful termination lawsuit against the State of Hawai i. The civil case is in Honolulu after Choy was fired by the agency he once helped run financially.
The case traces back to a whistleblower lawsuit Choy first filed in First Circuit Court on O ahu on June 12, 2025, in which he claimed he had been placed on unpaid administrative leave the previous month in retaliation for reporting procurement violations and financial mismanagement inside the agency, according to Honolulu Civil Beat. Choy had been suspended from his posts as vice president of finance and acting chief administrative officer on May 9, 2025, per that outlet's reporting.
A Firing Traced to the Governor's Office
Court filings show Choy was terminated effective September 15, 2025, and that Wilson terminated him, according to Hawaii Free Press.
HTA officials had placed Choy on leave after Native Hawaiian leaders and agency personnel accused him of making derogatory racial comments and fostering a hostile work environment, including a remark allegedly made during negotiations with the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Honolulu Civil Beat reported. Choy denied the allegations and said the stated reasons were a pretext, the outlet reported.
Audit Findings at the Center of the Dispute
Choy's court filings state that his whistleblower disclosures included reporting Mufi Hannemann's use of the Hawai i Convention Center, where organizations had not paid to use the facility, per Hawaii Free Press.
The lawsuit involves Hawai i's whistleblower-protection law.
Executive Communications Enter the Record
Before joining HTA in April 2023, Choy served ten years in the Hawai i House of Representatives from 2008 to 2018 representing O ahu districts and was appointed director of the Hawai i State Department of Taxation by then-Governor David Ige in August 2020, according to AP News. He is a licensed certified public accountant and served as the state's tax director from 2020 to 2022.
An Agency Already Under Scrutiny
Senator Kurt Fevella called for Choy and Tokioka to resign, according to Hoodline.
The dispute plays out inside an agency that manages roughly $63 million in annual taxpayer funding. Lawmakers have previously stripped HTA of its dedicated Transient Accommodations Tax allocation in an effort to force greater legislative control over the agency's budget.
