Gov. Linda Lingle's then-chief of staff promised a woman admission to a Hawai'i nursing school, money and other favors in exchange for a weekend with him and members of a trade delegation to the Philippines in January 2006, according to testimony in U.S. district court.

The testimony came yesterday during the sentencing of an Indian national, Rajdatta Patkar, 46, who admitted to blackmailing former Lingle aide Robert Awana.

Patkar's attorney, deputy federal public defender Pamela Byrne, said her client hacked into the e-mail accounts of his Filipina girlfriend and her friend and discovered e-mails from Awana in September 2005.

The e-mails have prompted the FBI to open an investigation into the behavior of state officials and other members of trade missions to China, South Korea and the Philippines over the past three years, according to federal law enforcement sources who did not want to be identified because the probe is ongoing.

Byrne said her client has been interviewed by federal agents and that he is cooperating as part of his plea agreement.

FBI special agent Brandon Simpson said he can neither confirm nor deny the existence of an ongoing investigation. Awana did not return a phone message seeking comment. Lingle spokesman Russell Pang did not return a message seeking comment yesterday.

In the e-mails Patkar accessed, Awana attempted to get Patkar's girlfriend, a woman named Julie Mae, to join Awana, his girlfriend Jet Ebale, and his "friends" for a weekend in the Philippines during a trade mission Awana was on with Lingle, Byrne said.

Both Patkar and Awana met their Filipina girlfriends on the Web site blossoms.com.

"She would receive favors, including money and the ability to come to Hawai'i to finish nursing school, if she performed favors for his friends," said Byrne, speaking outside of court. "It was men behaving badly."

Patkar on July 10 pleaded guilty to a single count of attempting to extort $35,000 from Awana. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop four related extortion charges.

U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Michael Seabright sentenced Patkar to 12 months in prison, one year of probation, and ordered him to pay restitution of $7,348.99 to the federal government.

"We are satisfied and feel he (the judge) took into account all the relevant circumstances in the case," said assistant U.S. attorney Clare E. Connors, who prosecuted the case for the government.

Patkar, who has been in custody since December 2006, will get credit for time served and is likely to be released in December and will be deported back to India.

Awana resigned on June 29 after details of the extortion began to surface.

Patkar discovered Awana after Julie Mae, the woman he was having an online relationship with, abruptly cut off contact after months of daily interaction. Patkar, who is "not sophisticated in the romance department," according to his attorney, became jealous and hacked into her account and the account of her friend, Jet Ebale.

It was in Ebale's e-mail account that Patkar found correspondence from Awana in which he tried to get Mae and her friends to get together with them in the Philippines in January 2006, Byrne said.

Patkar, slightly balding and dressed in a light blue shirt, dark blue pants and sneakers, admitted guilt and took responsibility for his actions.

"I acknowledge my actions were very unlawful and wrong. I would like to express apologies to R.A. for stress and embarrassing him," said Patkar, speaking before receiving his sentence. "It was my poor management of my emotions that led to these circumstances." R.A. are the initials used in federal documents to refer to the victim of Patkar's extortion attempt.

Patkar has been in custody at the Federal Detention Center near Honolulu International Airport since March. He also was in custody for several months in Japan while awaiting extradition to Hawai'i.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.