A Hawaii business owner facing federal charges for allegedly selling foreign-grown coffee as "100% Kona" has been indicted on four additional counts of tax fraud. The superseding indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, expands the case against Patricia Johnson, who pleaded not guilty to the new charges on October 7. The original indictment from September 2025 already included 16 counts of wire fraud and other serious charges.
Prosecutors allege that from 2012 through April 2024, Johnson, owner of the Kona Coffee Café, knowingly purchased large quantities of coffee from foreign origins and sold it to consumers as authentic "100% Kona" coffee. The indictment specifies the purchase of approximately 194,515 pounds of green coffee from a mainland U.S. wholesaler for about $494,029, none of which was reportedly from Hawaii's Kona district. The alleged counterfeit coffee was sold through a café, an online store, and on Amazon.
The new tax charges accuse Johnson of understating her business's gross receipts and inflating expenses on federal returns from 2019 to 2022. The indictment also retains three obstruction counts, alleging she attempted to influence grand jury witnesses. The government is seeking the forfeiture of at least $5.26 million in proceeds from the alleged scheme. While a trial was set for early 2027, the new charges may cause a delay.