Hawaii AG claims someone is impersonating the state’s CTO, a role that doesn’t exist

The Hawaii Department of the Attorney General last week warned the public about a man falsely claiming to be the state’s chief technology officer, both at national conferences and on online platforms.

Toni Schwartz, a spokesperson for the Hawaii AG’s office, wrote in an email that someone attending the 2026 Bitcoin conference, a gathering of more than 30,000 attendees in Las Vegas last week, alerted the department that a man named Iqbal Khowaja was presenting himself as the “CTO of the State of Hawai’i.” (Scwartz declined to provide further details about the person who contacted the office, to “protect the integrity of the on-going review.”)

Hawaii does not have a statewide chief technology officer. The state’s technology leadership is represented by its chief information officer, Christine Sakuda, who heads the Office of Enterprise Technology Services.

After receiving this information, Schwartz said, the AG’s office sent Khowaja a cease and desist letter. The office declined to share a copy of the letter or any further details “beyond what has already been made public” in the office’s press release.

In a press release last week, Tom Alipio, chief of the state AG’s investigations division said the office was “alerted to this individual’s false claims and quickly took steps to verify the information and respond. When someone falsely presents themselves as a government official, it raises serious concerns about fraud and public deception.”

In a written exchange over LinkedIn, Khowaja did not directly deny impersonating a Hawaii state technology official. “Regarding the confusion at the conference, it’s ironic, given how far behind government tech currently is, there’s practically nothing an impersonator could even ‘do’ with such a title. It seems to be another instance of media prioritizing a good story over the boring facts of a public pass attendee simply looking to learn,” he wrote.

Khowaja also used the opportunity to pitch three of his IT services companies, all of which were created in the past year, with two appearing to focus on artificial intelligence.

The Hawaii AG’s press release release includes five photos, four of which show Khowaja speaking on a panel focused on women’s leadership in tech at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, in January, where a large screen behind the platform identified him as “CTO State of Hawaii.”

In an emailed statement, a CES spokesperson said Khowaja “was not part of the official CES conference programming” and “did not present himself to CES as the CTO of Hawaii and was there as an industry attendee.” The spokesperson added that at the conference exhibitors “may host independent sessions or forums” and speakers “for those independent activities are not selected or vetted by CES.”

The organization’s 2026 attendance audit shows that two state representatives from Hawaii attended the conference. “We can confirm that members of the Office of Enterprise Technology Service did not attend,” a spokesperson from the Hawaii technology agency wrote in an email.

CES states on its website that “industry attendees” must provide proof of identification in the form of a LinkedIn page, business card, company ID card, employee ID badge, pay stub, employment verification letter, recent media article or employee roster. When asked which verification method was used by Khowaja, the CES spokesperson did not respond. The fifth photo shared by the Hawaii AG’s office is a screenshot of Khowaja’s LinkedIn profile, which has more than 7,500 followers. “I am currently the State Chief Technology Officer for the State of Hawaiʻi,” the profile read. Schwartz said the screenshot was taken on April 29, the same day the AG’s press release went out. By Friday, any mention of Hawaii had been removed from his profile. It now instead describes him as an “enterprise CTO” and “open to advising founders or GTM (go-to-market) leaders” in San Francisco or Las Vegas.

Khowaja claimed that he attended the Bitcoin conference in April as a ticket holder, not as a speaker, and shared several screenshots showing receipts of his free general admission pass to the 2026 Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas as evidence of that he did not attend the conference under the professional identity as state CTO of Hawaii. Organizers of the cryptocurrency conference did not respond to emails.

Khowaja also made requests for media assistance to combat these accusations, made by people, he said, who were envious of his success: “Given your vast network of connections and press affiliations, if you can help fight fires and help the victim here. My enemies and foes have reported this given professional jealousy which I am sure u must have also received as a shining star. Let me know if you will be willing to help.”

Khowaja claimed that he has the legal support of the Nevada Attorney General’s Office. The office did not respond to emails seeking to verify this claim.

He also named several other people, including lawyers, who he claimed were helping him, vowing to fight back with a “rapid and profound response.” He also named a well-known software engineer from a major technology firm. When contacted, the engineer, who asked not to be named in this story, said he had heard from Khowaja but had declined to speak to him.

Schwartz said the Hawaii AG’s office has yet to determine if Khowaja has committed a crime, but urged the public to contact the office with any information linking him to potentially criminal activity, such as fraudulent or financially predatory schemes. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, Americans lost nearly $800 million last year from people impersonating U.S. government officials, through calls, texts, emails or messages on social media.

“We put out a cautionary message for now and are encouraging people to come forward and let us know if he misled or scammed them in any way,” Schwartz said. “It is the department’s responsibility to protect the public from misrepresentation and potential fraud, and we will continue to do just that.”

According to his LinkedIn profile, Khowaja lives in Las Vegas. He also claims to have attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania from 2008 to 2011, earning an executive master’s degree in technology management. The university registrar’s office said that because of privacy guidelines, it was unable to confirm or deny whether Khowaja had attended or graduated from its business school.