This story was produced byHonolulu Civil Beat, a nonprofit news organization covering Hawaiʻi that specializes in accountability and in-depth enterprise coverage. For more stories like this,subscribe to their newsletters.
Nick Grube
Honolulu Civil Beat
Defense contractor Christopher Dawson’s sister is portraying him as the victim of a hostile takeover rather than someone who cheated Native Hawaiians out of millions of dollars through an embezzlement scheme that fueled a lavish lifestyle.
In various court filings, Donne Dawson — who now represents her brother’s estate — is pushing back on the U.S. Justice Department’s narrative about her brother’s alleged transgressions with revenue obtained through federal contracts. She claims he was taken advantage of by people he thought he could trust who “conspired to unlawfully” seize control of his nonprofit Hawaiian Native Corp. and its companies.
Christopher Dawson died by suicide in 2024 while under investigation for his participation in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program, which had provided him and his companies access to hundreds of millions in no-bid contracts in exchange for a promise to use profits to uplift the Native Hawaiian community.
Both DOJ prosecutors and SBA officials have accused Dawson, a Native Hawaiian, of instead lining his own pockets to purchase luxury homes, polo horses and other extravagances.
The DOJ has since filed civil forfeiture proceedings against four of Dawson’s properties — including a $3.5 million beachfront home on O‘ahu’s North Shore and a six-bedroom estate in Wellington, Florida next to the U.S. polo grounds — to recoup some of the money they say was stolen.
But Donne Dawson, who is the Hawaiʻi state film commissioner, argues in a court filing related to that property seizure that her brother has done nothing wrong. Her defense has found its way into other cases as well, including a dispute over his $2 million life insurance policy. She did not respond to Civil Beat’s requests for comment.
On Feb. 5, Donne Dawson filed a lawsuit against Equitable Holdings, Inc., claiming she was the sole beneficiary of her brother’s life insurance policy despite records showing that Christopher Dawson’s daughter was also named a 50% beneficiary.
Donne Dawson’s attorneys described that as a paperwork mistake and argued that their client should be paid the full $2 million. The insurance complaint stated that because the insurance company only paid out half the policy amount, the Dawson family had “suffered immensely.”
In that complaint, Donne Dawson’s attorneys offered a version of events that seems to contradict what DOJ, SBA and Hawaiian Native Corp. officials have been saying for years: He was pushed out by others in the company who threatened him with civil and criminal penalties if he refused to go.
“For the sake of his family,” the complaint states, “Mr. Dawson succumbed to their pressure.”
‘A One-Way Narrative’
Donne Dawson is fighting to stop the government from seizing her brother’s properties, which were purchased between between 2017 and 2021 for a combined price of more than $8.2 million. She’s also seeking to block the DOJ from taking nearly $600,000 that’s held in a separate bank account, money that her brother had set aside to purchase another multimillion-dollar condominium.
Attorney William Harrison last month filed a response to the DOJ’s forfeiture complaint denying “any allegation of wrongdoing, illegality, fraud, embezzlement, or misconduct” by Christopher Dawson or his estate and has asked for the civil forfeiture case to be dismissed.
Harrison told Civil Beat that it’s still too early to discuss specific defenses to the DOJ’s assertions, but that he anticipates taking a closer look at the SBA’s own vague rules governing what counts as an Indigenous community benefit.
“We’re not ruling out anything at this point,” Harrison said. “There’s a one-way narrative going on here and I want to see what evidence they have to support that narrative.”
Christopher Dawson became the target of a criminal investigation when federal agents raided the Hawaiian Native Corp.’s headquarters in summer of 2023. At the time, Dawson, his sister, Donne, and his mother, Beatrice “Beadie” Kanahele Dawson, were all on the board of directors along with Allen Hoe, a Native Hawaiian lawyer and veterans advocate.
Shortly after the raid, Christopher Dawson stepped down as chairman of the nonprofit and relinquished control of the DAWSON companies, saying he wanted to avoid being a distraction while the investigation played out.
Hoe was named chairman of the nonprofit board and Dave Johnson, the DAWSON companies’ chief operating officer, was promoted to CEO. The Hawaiian Native Corp. also brought on Andy Winer, the nonprofit’s federal lobbyist and former chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, as a board member.
Before the investigation could play out, however, Christopher Dawson was terminated and both his sister and mother were removed from the nonprofit they helped found. Donne Dawson now maintains that was all part of a coordinated campaign.
Aftermath Of A Hostile Takeover?
The DAWSON companies were “highly successful” and provided “immense benefits for the Native Hawaiian people,” the insurance complaint states. Christopher Dawson had put people he trusted into leadership roles, but those individuals — none of whom are named — forced him out, it says, adding that he was cut off from his income and threatened with civil and criminal liability if he refused to walk away.
Once he was forced out, the complaint states that Dawson was unable to support his mother, Beadie, who was born in 1929 and requires “substantial assistance in her daily life.” Much of that burden then fell on his sister, which is why the complaint says she now needs the extra money.
The recent court filings aren’t the first time Donne Dawson has argued that her brother was the victim of an illegal takeover, either.
Last year, she filed two lawsuits against the SBA seeking records about its investigation. Those lawsuits targeted documents Christopher Dawson had requested under the Freedom of Information Act, including a forensic accounting analysis performed by an outside consultant and any communications between the Hawaiian Native Corp. officials and the SBA regarding his subsequent separation from the organization and its companies.
Both lawsuits included footnotes declaring that the Dawsons had been “unlawfully forced out of the DAWSON Companies.”
In a joint statement, Hoe and Johnson declined to respond to the specific allegations contained in Donne Dawson’s insurance complaint and instead said that the Hawaiian Native Corp. is continuing to work with the DOJ in its civil forfeiture case to “ensure the proceeds of any real estate disposition will benefit the Native Hawaiian community.”
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