1538 Randall Court, Los Angeles, CA, 90065
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Hit these guys up’: Former Jose Huizar aide testifies about demands for cash and donations
Former Councilman Jose Huizar flanked by his attorneys on a sidewalk.
Former City Councilman Jose Huizar, flanked by his lawyers in 2020. A key aide testified Friday in the first of three trials focused on the Huizar case.
June 18, 2022 10:57 AM PT
A high-level aide to former Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar gave jurors a vivid look at the pay-to-play schemes allegedly pursued by his boss, describing paper bags filled with bribe money and demands for concert tickets and other gifts.
George Esparza, appearing Friday in the first of three trials dealing with the Huizar case, told jurors that he took part in two “money drops” in 2017, picking up cash from a developer’s go-between and then delivering the money to the councilman in liquor boxes — all while taking copious notes on his own criminal activities.
Esparza, who worked several years as the councilman’s special assistant, said his boss assigned him to find the point person for each real estate developer who had business before Huizar, then hit them up for political donations, hotel stays, event tickets or other benefits.
At the time, Huizar was in charge of the committee that reviews real estate proposals at City Hall. As a result, he had the power to keep a development project off of meeting agendas — creating delays and driving up construction costs — if he concluded that the developer had been unresponsive, Esparza said.
14th District council member Jose Huizar.
California
Cash, casinos and a sexual harassment payout: Former Huizar aide agrees to plead guilty
May 27, 2020
“I was taught to be very clear on what the message was,” Esparza said. “If you don’t help the councilman with his requests, your project will be stalled.”
Esparza, 35, began testifying on Day 4 of the federal trial against Dae Yong Lee, a businessman accused of paying a $500,000 bribe to ensure Huizar’s support for his planned 20-story residential tower. Lee, also known as David Lee, has pleaded not guilty to bribery, wire fraud and obstruction of justice.
Bundles of cash in a liquor box.
Political aide George Esparza testified that he delivered cash in a liquor box to his boss, Councilman Jose Huizar, who instructed him to take it home and hide it.
(U.S. District Court)
Huizar, who stepped down from the council two years ago, has pleaded not guilty to bribery, racketeering and other charges. His attorneys had no comment on Esparza’s remarks.
Lawyers for Lee have described their client as the victim of a real estate consultant who repeatedly lied to him and to FBI agents. Lee, they said, believed his $500,000 was going to pay for legitimate consulting work — not bribes for public officials.
Friday’s testimony offered the first public remarks from Esparza since 2020, the year he pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge in the sprawling federal corruption case. Esparza admitted taking part in a criminal enterprise in which he received an array of financial benefits — cash, casino chips, golf clubs, hotel stays, private jet travel — from people seeking help with high-rise development projects or other business pursuits.
Esparza said Huizar kept an internal spreadsheet that tracked development projects, their consultants and “what the ask was.” The councilman spoke in crass terms about his demands, saying he wanted to see if the “cows are willing to give milk,” the former aide said.
“He would say, ‘OK, hit these guys up,’” Esparza said. “‘Let’s see if they’re willing to play.’”
Esparza, who grew up in Boyle Heights, said it had been his dream to work for Huizar, whom he described as a friend of his family. He said he was Huizar’s driver and “trusted confidant,” picking him up at his home in the mornings, dropping him off late at night.
During three hours of testimony, Esparza laid out what he described as an effort by Huizar to wring money out of Lee, who needed the councilman’s help with his plan for a 232-unit high-rise on Olympic Boulevard. Lee’s project received an initial sign-off from the planning department in July 2016. But a union group filed a challenge weeks later, raising the possibility that its fate would be decided by the council.
Justin Kim, a real estate consultant then working for Lee, asked Huizar for help in getting rid of the challenge, which was filed by Creed LA, a group that represents construction trade unions and lobbies public officials to ensure that real estate projects are built with union labor.
Kim, a campaign fundraiser for Huizar, was a political friend of the office, Esparza said. But the councilman was also close to organized labor, making Kim’s request a “heavy lift,” the former aide said.
Esparza said he let Kim know that “the councilman won’t be doing this for free.”
Esparza said he took Huizar to a dinner meeting with Kim to discuss the union challenge in September 2016, followed by a karaoke party with “escort” services, which Lee attended. Huizar was “definitely on a good high” on the ride home, Esparza said.
“Nothing made him happy more than money and women,” he said.
In January 2017, Esparza said, Huizar assigned him to contact real estate experts to determine how much Lee would save if the union appeal went away. Esparza concluded the answer was $30 million.
Esparza said Huizar then came up with a proposal: To make the appeal go away, Lee would need to pay $1.2 million, which would be split three ways — $500,000 for Huizar, $500,000 for Kim and $200,000 for Esparza.
Lee eventually came back with a $500,000 counteroffer, Esparza said. Huizar accepted and promised Esparza a $100,000 cut, the former aide said.
Esparza said he picked up his first bag of cash from Kim in February 2017, delivering $100,000 to Huizar in a Don Julio tequila box. Huizar told him to take the money home and store it in a safe, Esparza said.
Huizar met with a lobbyist for Creed LA later that month, Esparza said. In March 2017, Creed LA dropped its appeal.
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Esparza told jurors he picked up a second paper bag of money that same month and delivered it to Huizar in a Johnnie Walker Blue Label box. Huizar again told him to store the money at home, Esparza said.
Esparza said he took copious notes on the proposals and counterproposals, while also taking pictures of the stacks of $100 bills he picked up. The former aide said he did so because he was nervous that Huizar would pin the scheme on him if the FBI caught on.
“Knowing my boss, I knew I would be the fall guy,” he said.
Esparza has not yet been sentenced in the case. Neither has Kim, who pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge in 2020.
Ariel Neuman, an attorney for Lee, will have the opportunity to cross-examine Esparza on Tuesday. During the trial, he has accused the prosecution of giving Kim a “sweetheart deal,” allowing him to avoid charges on a number of crimes. In court filings, Lee’s lawyers also took aim at Esparza’s credibility.
“Esparza is a convicted felon who, in his plea agreement, admitted that he lied to the FBI in at least five separate instances,” they wrote in one recent filing.
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A 20-story tower. A liquor box with $100 bills. The first trial in the Huizar case begins
Former Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar
Then-Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar is shown in 2018. Trial has begun in the federal case involving a real estate developer accused of providing a $500,000 bribe.
June 15, 2022 5 AM PT
It was one of the more evocative scenes described by prosecutors as part of their City Hall corruption investigation: A political aide arrives at the home of a Los Angeles city councilman and presents him with a liquor box filled with cash.
George Esparza told prosecutors that in 2017, he took the Don Julio tequila box packed with $100 bills to the Boyle Heights residence of his boss, then-Councilman Jose Huizar. Esparza said the councilman initially told him to hide the cash and later hounded him for the money.
Now, the Bel-Air businessman accused of providing that cash is facing his day in court, in the first of three trials that make up the sprawling bribery and racketeering case against Huizar.
A liquor box filled with cash.
George Esparza, who was an aide to former Councilman Jose Huizar, has told prosecutors that he delivered a liquor box filled with cash to his boss’s home in 2017.
(Department of Justice)
Lawyers for both sides delivered opening statements Tuesday in the case against Dae Yong Lee, a real estate developer accused of paying $500,000 to ensure that Huizar would clear the way for a 20-story residential tower planned by his limited liability company, 940 Hill.
Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar in council chambers at City Hall on December 11, 2018.
How Jose Huizar’s lavish Las Vegas jaunts tripped alarms for FBI in L.A. bribe case
Lee, also known as David Lee, has pleaded not guilty to bribery, wire fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. He is the majority owner of 940 Hill, which is also a defendant in the case.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Cassie Palmer told the jury that Lee provided the money to “grease the wheels” of city government. At the time, Lee had been facing a challenge to his project from a union group, which threatened to cause major delays and cost tens of millions of dollars, she said.
“The defendants took a path that was cheaper, that was faster, that was guaranteed,” she said.
Ariel Neuman, the attorney for Lee, told jurors that his client is a victim, someone who believed the $500,000 he had provided was going to a consultant performing legitimate consulting work. In their zeal to tackle public corruption, federal prosecutors “swept up someone who had no idea” that Huizar, Esparza and the others were engaged in a criminal enterprise, he said.
Prosecutors are going to present an “ugly, ugly story” about corruption, Neuman said. “None of it has anything to do with Mr. Lee.”
The trial of another developer in the case, Shenzhen New World I, is scheduled for October. Huizar’s trial is set for February.
Prosecutors say Huizar was in charge of a massive scheme in which he and others received lucrative favors from developers in exchange for sign-offs on their downtown high-rise projects. Huizar has pleaded not guilty to racketeering, bribery and other charges.
Lee’s company proposed its residential high-rise seven years ago, filing an application to build more than 200 apartments at Olympic Boulevard and Hill Street, in the South Park section of downtown. The planning department provided its initial approval of the project in 2016.
Weeks later, Creed LA, a group representing construction trade unions, filed an appeal of that decision, raising the possibility that the project would require a vote of the City Council.
Lee then turned to consultant Justin Kim for help in getting rid of the union challenge. Kim, a real estate appraiser, was a fundraiser for Huizar who knew City Hall — and had served at one point on the city’s powerful planning commission.
Prosecutors said Kim, while working for Lee, served as a go-between for Lee and the council office, arranging multiple “money drops.” Kim picked up cash from Lee and handed a portion of it over to Esparza, who was supposed to get it to Huizar, prosecutors said.
Kim and Esparza pleaded guilty to corruption charges in 2020, admitting they were participants in a bribery scheme centered on Lee’s project.
In his plea agreement, Kim said he kept a $100,000 payment that was intended for Huizar in July 2017.
Neuman, the lawyer for Lee, told jurors that his client believed Kim was simply negotiating a resolution to the challenge filed by Creed LA, also known as the Coalition for Responsible Equitable Economic Development. Prosecutors have pinned their case on Kim — “a liar and a thief” who has repeatedly changed his story, Neuman said.
“This case is about a man, my client, who made the mistake of trusting the wrong person,” he said.
Images of a portion of a conversation between Justin Kim, George Esparza and David Lee.
A screen shot of a graphic created by federal prosecutors that shows a text message exchange between real estate consultant Justin Kim and George Esparza, an aide to then-Councilman Jose Huizar.
Neuman said he intends for the defense to call as a witness Jeff Modrzejewski, Creed LA’s executive director. The defense also plans to call City Hall lobbyist Chris Modrzejewski, brother of Jeff Modrzejewski.
Chris Modrzejewski intends to assert his 5th Amendment right to remain silent, according to a recent filing in the case. A representative of Chris Modrzejewski declined to comment when reached by The Times.
On Tuesday, prosecutors began questioning FBI Special Agent Andrew Civetti, who has been deeply involved in the case and described his work extracting information from cellphones belonging to Esparza, Huizar’s special assistant. They also showed jurors photos of the liquor box and stacks of $100 bills taken by Esparza.
Prosecutors said Esparza kept extensive notes on the bribe money he was transporting.
At one point, he took a photograph of a napkin on which he wrote the words “Giving cash to CM Huizar 2/10/2017,” according to one recent filing.
Esparza was “a particularly meticulous record keeper,” Palmer said.
CaliforniaReal EstateL.A. Politics
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Cash, casinos and a sexual harassment payout: Former Huizar aide agrees to plead guilty
L.A. City Councilman Jose Huizar
A former aide to L.A. City Councilman Jose Huizar, above, has agreed to plead guilty in the federal “pay-to-play” corruption probe at City Hall, prosecutors said.
May 27, 2020 Updated 8:19 PM PT
For years, George Esparza was known as one of Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar’s closest aides, driving him around town, attending to him at events and serving as his special assistant.
On Wednesday, the 33-year-old former Huizar staffer agreed to plead guilty in the ongoing corruption investigation at City Hall, becoming the closest associate of the councilman so far to be snared in the federal “pay-to-play” probe.
In a deal with prosecutors, Esparza will admit to participating in an audacious scheme to hit up real estate developers for cash, luxurious trips, political contributions and other bribes in exchange for help with major development projects, court records show. He will plead guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge.
Esparza is the fourth person to agree to plead guilty in the sprawling investigation. The machinations carried out by Esparza and others amounted to a criminal enterprise, according to prosecutors who charged him under a law used to combat organized crime syndicates.
In charge of the operation, prosecutors allege, was Esparza’s boss — a councilman who is not named in court records but is known to be Huizar based on a host of details in federal filings. Prosecutors said the councilman received more than $1 million worth of bribes from just one of the real estate developers doing business in his district.
A lawyer for Esparza did not respond to a request for comment. Esparza has been working in recent years as chief of staff to Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles), who also did not respond to The Times’ inquiries.
Huizar’s attorney declined to comment. The councilman, whose district stretches from downtown to Eagle Rock, has not been arrested or charged with a crime.
Under the terms of the plea deal, Esparza will cooperate with the ongoing investigation. Prosecutors already have won plea deals from a former City Council member, a political fundraiser and a real estate consultant, who admitted to participating in illicit activities that involved either Huizar or others in his orbit.
City Hall – Esparza PLEA AGREEMENT.pdf
George-Esparza-PLEA-AGREEMENT with email
May 27, 2020
Esparza, who worked as a special assistant to Huizar from 2013 to 2018, featured in those allegations and others that prosecutors detailed in their court filings Wednesday.
In one, Esparza and the councilman enriched themselves with the largesse from the billionaire head of a major Chinese real estate company, who paid more than $1 million in bribes in exchange for help clearing the way for a 77-story skyscraper the company wanted to build downtown, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Details on that project, contained in federal filings, match up with a development proposed by Shenzhen New World Group, a Chinese company that sought to build a 77-story tower on Figueroa Street. The Times was unable to immediately reach a representative of the developer for comment.
Esparza told investigators that between 2014 and 2018, the developer provided him and his boss free flights on private jets, gambling chips, expensive meals and other perks during more than a dozen trips to casinos in Las Vegas, court records show. In 2016, the developer also flew the pair to Australia for another gambling trip.
LOS ANGELES CA, MARCH 12, 2020 – Mitch Englander leaves Federal Courthouse in Downtown Los Angeles with his wife Jayne, Thursday March 12, 2020. Englander is accused of obstructing an investigation into his allegedly accepting gifts from a businessman during trips to Las Vegas and Palm Springs. He faces seven federal criminal counts — three of witness tampering, three for allegedly making false statements and a single count of scheming to falsify facts. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
‘They’re all tainted by it.’ Federal corruption cases deal new blow to trust in City Hall
April 1, 2020
The developer shelled out more than $850,000 for the trips, providing more than $200,000 in chips to the councilman, prosecutors alleged in court records.
In addition, Esparza acknowledged he had helped facilitate a deal in which the same developer helped the councilman secure a $570,000 loan — money he used in 2014 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former aide. That same year, Huizar was facing a sexual harassment lawsuit from a former aide, which was settled under terms that were kept confidential.
In exchange for the financial benefits, the councilman “routinely assisted” the developer over the years, drawing up a City Hall resolution praising the company’s chairman in 2014, prosecutors said. The 77-story project on Figueroa Street has been on hold for years and has not received a final vote, according to planning officials.
The federal corruption investigation has rocked Los Angeles City Hall.
Esparza also admitted to helping the councilman, who chaired a powerful committee that oversaw major real estate projects, to shake down developers for contributions to a political action committee meant to assist a relative who was running to replace the councilman.
Details in federal filings make clear that prosecutors are referring to Richelle Huizar, the wife of the councilman, who ran briefly for his seat in 2018. Richelle Huizar has not been named in the filings or charged with a crime. Her attorney declined to comment Wednesday.
city-hall-esparza-information-1
May 27, 2020
When businesses did not play ball with the councilman, there were consequences, according to federal prosecutors. During one phone call, Esparza complained that a developer had not come through with certain “commitments.”
“Why even be helpful to them…. We are not going to help them,” he said, according to the federal filing.
The sweeping case has led to three other plea deals: In March, former City Councilman Mitchell Englander agreed to plead guilty to scheming to falsify facts in a probe of his acceptance of envelopes of cash and other gifts. Former City Planning Commissioner Justin Jangwoo Kim agreed to plead guilty to bribery in a case involving a box containing $200,000 in cash.
In Wednesday’s filing, prosecutors identified Esparza as the council aide who showed up at his boss’ home with the box of cash.
This month, real estate consultant George Chiang agreed to plead guilty to a racketeering charge, admitting he was involved in a scheme in which a Chinese real estate company bribed a council member in exchange for help on a major development project. Details in that filing also make clear prosecutors were referring to Huizar.
Esparza told The Times last year that he had stopped working for the councilman because he was “profoundly uncomfortable” with the councilman’s conduct.
“So I got out before I became collateral damage,” he said in a statement at the time.
After resigning from his City Hall post, Esparza secured a job with Carrillo, earning around $117,000 annually, according to state records from this year.
While working as Carrillo’s chief of staff, Esparza and his boss were reprimanded by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon for engaging in inappropriate workplace conduct. Rendon cited allegations that Esparza had made “inappropriate sexual comments.”
Click here to watch: VIDEO | 06:42
Cash, casinos and a sexual harassment payout: former Huizar aide pleads guilty.
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Law360 (June 17, 2022, 10:27 PM EDT) — A one-time aide to former Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar testified in a real estate developer’s bribery trial Friday, explaining to jurors how his former boss intentionally created regulatory leverage against developers, then extracted bribes to swoop in as a “savior” …Jun 17, 2022
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https://www.dailynews.com/2022/06/21/corruption-trial-shines-a-spotlight-on-los-angeles-city-hall/
Corruption trial shines a spotlight on Los Angeles City Hall
Ex-Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)
Ex-Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)
PUBLISHED: June 21, 2022 at 2:35 p.m. | UPDATED: June 21, 2022 at 2:36 p.m.
The U.S. Department of Justice released a photograph of a Don Julio 1942 tequila box with the lid open, its gold lining shimmering above the contents of the box – ten thick stacks of bundled $100 bills.
The first trial resulting from the FBI’s investigation into public corruption at Los Angeles City Hall is underway.
According to prosecutors, former City Council member Jose Huizar ran a criminal enterprise in Council District 14. Last week, Huizar’s former political aide, George Esparza took the witness stand and testified for three hours in the trial of real estate developer Dae Yong “David” Lee, who has been charged with bribery, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors say he paid a $500,000 bribe to get Huizar’s support for city approval of a planned 20-story, 232-unit residential building on Olympic Blvd.
The city planning department had signed off on the project in July 2016, but weeks later a group that represents construction trade unions filed a challenge to the project. Lee needed help to get through the approval process.
Now we’ll play L.A.’s favorite game, “Is it Bribery or Extortion?!”
Esparza, who pleaded guilty in 2020 to a charge of racketeering conspiracy but has not yet been sentenced, described his work for Councilmember Huizar. “He would say, ‘OK, hit these guys up,’” Esparza testified, “‘Let’s see if they’re willing to play.’”
Esparza said Huizar kept a spreadsheet of projects in development with the names of their consultants and the “ask” for each for each one, and it was his job as the councilman’s “special assistant” to find the key person for each developer with a project in the district and then “hit these guys up” for political donations or other things of value.
“I was taught to be very clear on what the message was,” Esparza testified. “If you don’t help the councilman with his requests, your project will be stalled.”
If that happened, is it bribery or extortion?
Lee’s lawyers say he thought he was paying for legitimate consulting services. Lee hired Justin Kim, a real estate consultant, to help make the labor group’s challenge go away. Esparza testified that in September 2016, he brought Huizar and Kim to a dinner meeting followed by a karaoke party that included the services of “escorts.”
Esparza said Huizar was in a great mood on the ride home. “Nothing made him happy more than money and women,” he testified.
The “ask” was allegedly $1.2 million to be split between Huizar, Kim and Esparza, but allegedly Lee made a counteroffer of $500,000, which was accepted. Esparza testified that he picked up the first bag of cash from Kim in February 2017, and that’s when he delivered $100,000 to Huizar.
In March 2017, following a meeting between Huizar and a lobbyist for the labor group, the challenge to Lee’s project was dropped. Esparza testified that he picked up another sack of cash and delivered it to Huizar in a Johnnie Walker Blue Label box.
Is it bribery? Is it extortion? Is it a plagiarized script from something on Netflix?
More likely, it’s business as usual in Los Angeles, where the planning and approval process seems intentionally Byzantine and impenetrable. If the city’s motto isn’t “Pay to Play,” it’s only because somebody wants too much money to approve the contract to change all the plaques.
Justin Kim, who is also a witness in Lee’s trial, pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge in 2020. Another developer involved in the corruption case, Shenzhen New World I, will go on trial in October. Huizar, who has pleaded not guilty to racketeering, bribery and other charges, is scheduled to go on trial in February.
The FBI’s investigation into public corruption in Los Angeles has also reached into the city-owned Department of Water and Power, where insider dealings enriched various people through lawsuit settlements and lucrative contract awards, and into the City Attorney’s office, where some of the deals were arranged. There have been a number of guilty pleas and there are a number of cooperating witnesses.
It’s up to the jury to decide whether David Lee is guilty of bribery. It’s up to the voters to clean out the barn at City Hall.
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George Esparza, ex-aide to LA Councilman Jose Huizar, pleads guilty in corruption probe
Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)
Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)
PUBLISHED: July 22, 2020 at 9:51 a.m. | UPDATED: July 22, 2020 at 4:45 p.m.
A former aide to now-suspended Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar pleaded guilty Wednesday, July 22, to a federal racketeering charge arising from a purported City Hall pay-to-play scheme in which real estate developers paid bribes to ensure building projects received favored treatment.
George Esparza, 33, of Boyle Heights entered his plea via video conference to a single count of conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization statute and is cooperating in the long-running investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Sentencing is set for Feb. 8, when Esparza will face up to 20 years in federal prison. However, he is expected to receive far less time because of his cooperation.
Huizar, the central figure in the five-year probe, is accused of accepting $1.5 million in bribes from developers in exchange for his support of downtown building projects. He was suspended from the council following his arrest in June and has a court appearance in Los Angeles federal court scheduled for July 31.
From 2013 to 2018, Esparza worked as a special assistant to Huizar, who represented downtown and chaired the powerful Planning and Land Use Management Committee. After FBI agents raided the councilman’s home and offices in November 2018, Huizar was removed from his committee assignments.
Prosecutors say that Esparza and the councilman took bribes from the billionaire head of a major Chinese real estate company who paid more than $1 million in exchange for the committee chairman’s support for a 77-story skyscraper the company wanted to build on downtown’s Figueroa Street.
Esparza told investigators that from 2014 to 2018 the developer provided him and the council member flights on private jets, gambling chips, expensive meals, prostitution/escort services and other perks during more than a dozen trips to casinos in Las Vegas, court records show.
On July 7, former City Councilman Mitch Englander pleaded guilty to a federal criminal charge for obstructing an investigation into whether he took cash, escort services and other gifts from a businessman involved in major development projects in the city. He is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 28, but both sides have requested that the judge delay the hearing until Dec. 1
Real estate development consultant George Chiang pleaded guilty on June 26 to a racketeering charge for playing a role in the scheme allegedly run by Huizar involving the Chinese company. His sentencing hearing is set for Feb. 22.
Last month former City Hall fundraiser Justin Kim pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge for his role. Kim’s sentencing hearing is also scheduled for Feb. 22.
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Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Central District of California
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 27, 2022
Real Estate Developer Found Guilty of Fraud, Bribery and Obstruction Charges for Paying $500,000 in Cash to City Officials
LOS ANGELES – A real estate developer and one of his companies were found guilty by a jury today of federal criminal charges for providing $500,000 in cash to then-Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar and his special assistant in exchange for their help in resolving a labor organization’s appeal of their downtown Los Angeles development project.
Dae Yong Lee, a.k.a. “David Lee,” 57, of Bel Air, and 940 Hill LLC, a Lee-controlled company, each were found guilty of three felonies: one count of honest services wire fraud, one count of bribery, and one count of falsification of records in federal investigations.
According to evidence presented at his nine-day trial, Lee, a commercial real estate developer, was the majority owner of 940 Hill LLC and was planning on building a mixed-use development located at 940 South Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles. The development was to include 14,000 square feet of commercial space and more than 200 residential units.
In August 2016, after a labor organization filed an appeal that prevented the 940 Hill project from progressing through the city’s approval process, Lee called Justin Jangwoo Kim, a Huizar fundraiser, to request Huizar’s help in dealing with the appeal. At the time, Huizar was the chairman of the city’s Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee, a body that oversaw many of the city’s most significant commercial and residential projects.
In September 2016, George Esparza, then Huizar’s special assistant, informed Kim that Huizar would not help the 940 Hill project for free and would require a financial benefit. In 2017, after several months of bribe negotiations, Lee provided cash totaling $500,000 to Kim to deliver to Huizar and Esparza, including in a liquor box.
Two years after paying the bribe, Lee and 940 Hill LLC impeded a federal criminal investigation by altering accounting and tax records to falsely categorize the $500,000 bribe as a legitimate business expenditure for resolving the labor organization appeal.
United States District Judge John F. Walter scheduled a September 19 sentencing hearing, at which time Lee will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for the honest services wire fraud count, 20 years for the obstruction count, and 10 years for the bribery count. Defendant 940 Hill LLC will face a statutory maximum fine of $1.5 million or twice the gross gain or gross loss from the offense.
Kim pleaded guilty in June 2020 to a federal bribery offense. Esparza pleaded guilty in July 2020 to one count of racketeering conspiracy. Both men are cooperating with the investigation and are scheduled to be sentenced in September.
The next scheduled trial in this case is against Shen Zhen New World I LLC, an entity owned by real estate developer Wei Huang – another defendant in the case. Both defendants are charged with bribing Huizar related to another downtown Los Angeles development project and are scheduled to go to trial on October 18. Huang remains a fugitive.
Huizar and former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan are scheduled to go to trial February 21, 2023, on federal charges alleging they conspired to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Huizar allegedly agreed to accept at least $1.5 million in illicit financial benefits and faces dozens of additional federal criminal charges.
Assistant United States Attorney Mack E. Jenkins, Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, and Assistant United States Attorneys Veronica Dragalin and Cassie Palmer, also of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, are prosecuting this case.
Any member of the public who has information related to this or any other public corruption matter in the City of Los Angeles is encouraged to send information to the FBI’s email tip line at pctips-losangeles@fbi.gov or to contact the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office at (310) 477-6565.
Topic(s):
Public Corruption
Component(s):
USAO – California, Central
Contact:
Ciaran McEvoy
Public Information Officer
ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov
(213) 894-4465
Press Release Number:
22-125
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Former LA City Councilman José Huizar agrees to plead guilty to racketeering, tax evasion
LOS ANGELES (CNS), 19 January 2023 – Former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar will plead guilty to federal charges that outline a City Hall-based bribery and money laundering scheme in which he took more than $1.5 million in cash, gambling trips and escorts in exchange for his support of a planned downtown hotel project, according to court papers obtained Thursday by City News Service.
Huizar’s plea agreement to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion was signed Wednesday and filed in Los Angeles federal court Thursday afternoon.
The document states that Huizar faces a sentence of up to 26 years behind bars once he pleads guilty, but he has agreed to a prison sentence of no less than nine years. A motions hearing in the case is on calendar for Friday morning, but that could be updated to a proceeding in which Huizar would enter his guilty plea.
At sentencing, Huizar will be ordered to pay restitution of about $1.85 million, the document states.
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Former Los Angeles Politician José Huizar Sentenced to 13 Years in Federal Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy and Tax Evasion
Friday, January 26, 2024
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California
LOS ANGELES – Former Los Angeles City Councilmember José Luis Huizar was sentenced today to 156 months in federal prison for using his powerful position at City Hall to enrich himself and his associates, as well as for cheating on his taxes.
Huizar, 55, of Boyle Heights, was sentenced by United States District Judge John F. Walter, who also ordered him to pay $443,905 in restitution to the City of Los Angeles and $38,792 in restitution to the IRS. Judge Walter ordered Huizar to surrender to federal authorities no later than April 30.
At today’s hearing, Judge Walter said public corruption carries “the real potential to destroy the delicate fabric of our democracy” and causes the public “to disengage in the democratic process” and “give up all hope of participating” with the government.
Huizar pleaded guilty in January 2023 to one count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and one count of tax evasion. He represented Council District 14 (CD-14), which includes downtown Los Angeles and its surrounding communities, from 2005 until his resignation in 2020.
“No one is above the law,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “Today’s sentence shows that even a powerful elected official like Huizar will be held accountable for engaging in criminal misconduct. Huizar was elected to serve the interests of the hard-working people of Los Angeles, but he instead served his own personal interests in a long-running, pay-to-play, bribery scheme. Our community deserves better.”
“This years-long investigation uncovered one of the most audacious public corruption cases in this city’s history,” said Donald Alway, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “This case would not have been possible without the dedication of agents and prosecutors – and importantly – the cooperation of many citizens who were fed up with rampant malfeasance by public officials. Mr. Huizar ignored the needs of his constituents and instead, served his own interests by accepting bribes and a wide assortment of luxury perks from wealthy real estate moguls and others who could afford Huizar’s political favors at the taxpayer’s expense. My hope is that this case brings more citizens forward to the FBI when they suspect corrupt practices and foreign influence.”
For years, Huizar led what prosecutors in court documents called the CD-14 Enterprise, a criminal conspiracy that operated a pay-to-play scheme with three key goals: gain financial enrichment through bribes, maintain Huizar’s political power, and avoid detection by law enforcement.
By leveraging his position as CD-14’s councilmember and chair of the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee, which oversaw all major commercial and residential development projects throughout the entire city, Huizar – assisted by others – sought nearly $2 million worth of benefits in bribes from real estate developers and their proxies.
The benefits ranged from cash bribes, casino gambling chips, prostitution services, political contributions, flights on private jets and commercial airlines, stays at luxury hotels and casinos, expensive meals, tickets to concerts and sporting events, and other things of value. In exchange for these benefits, Huizar used his positions of public office to take official acts and give favorable treatment towards the projects of the paying real estate developers.
Huizar facilitated at least five bribery schemes. In one of the schemes, Huizar solicited $500,000 in cash for himself and his co-conspirators from developer David Lee in exchange for taking an official act to resolve an appeal by a labor organization against Lee’s project. In another scheme, Huizar accepted more than $1 million in benefits from billionaire real estate developer, Wei Huang, in exchange for pushing future approvals of the redevelopment of Huang’s hotel into the tallest tower west of the Mississippi.
To maintain his political seat, which was threatened by a sexual harassment lawsuit in 2013, Huizar also schemed to surreptitiously route $600,000 in the form of collateral from Huang through a foreign shell company, which Huizar used to confidentially settle the lawsuit. Huizar similarly concealed his many other bribes, including by laundering cash through his mother and brother, and by omitting his financial benefits on his tax returns.
When Huizar’s final term for the CD-14 Council seat was set to expire in 2020, Huizar pushed his wife, who had never held public office, to run as his successor, then used the CD-14 Enterprise and the pay-to-play scheme to extract campaign contributions that would allow him to maintain political power through her. Instead, Huizar, while he was still in office, was ultimately indicted in July 2020 on the charges in this case, and he resigned from his council and committee positions later that year.
As part of his plea agreement, Huizar also admitted to obstructing justice, including by tampering with two witnesses, and lying to federal prosecutors and federal agents.
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors described how Huizar chose “to place his own lust for money and power above the rights and interests of the people he was elected to serve” and “[i]n the wake of his criminal activity…helped gut the public’s confidence in the integrity of its local government – and beyond – and eroded a sense of fair play therein.”
“Mr. Huizar was entrusted with making decisions in the best interest of Angelenos. Instead, he leveraged his position to enrich himself and his close allies in a mafia-style organization. His greed further emboldened him to hide his criminally gained profits from the IRS, which was a big mistake,” said Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office. “IRS Criminal Investigation is the best in the world at following the money, and by teaming with our federal partners we will aggressively investigate corruption at every level.”
Other defendants charged alongside Huizar in the indictment are:
- Dae Yong Lee, 59, a.k.a. “David Lee,” of Bel-Air, a real estate developer who is serving a six-year prison sentence for his convictions for honest services wire fraud, bribery, and falsification of records in a federal investigation.
- 940 Hill LLC, a Lee-controlled Los Angeles-based company, which was convicted of the same crimes as Lee and sentenced in July 2023 to five years of probation, fined $1.5 million, and ordered to pay the costs of prosecution.
- Wei Huang, 58, of Shenzhen, China, a billionaire real estate developer who is charged with several felonies, has yet to make a court appearance in this case and is a fugitive believed to be in China.
- Shen Zhen New World I LLC, a downtown Los Angeles-based company convicted – through the actions of its owner, Huang – of paying more than $1 million in bribes to Huizar, including the $600,000 sham loan. The company was sentenced in May 2023 to five years of probation, fined $4 million, and ordered to pay the costs of prosecution.
- Raymond She Wah Chan, 67, of Monterey Park, a former Los Angeles deputy mayor, has pleaded not guilty to charges of RICO conspiracy, bribery, honest services fraud and lying to federal agents. His retrial is scheduled to begin on March 12.
Other defendants in related criminal cases stemming from this corruption matter are:
- Justin Jangwoo Kim, 57, of Mar Vista, a political fundraiser who pleaded guilty in June 2020 to one count of bribery and is scheduled for sentencing on June 21.
- Morris Roland Goldman, 61, of Porter Ranch, a lobbyist who pleaded guilty in September 2020 to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services fraud and is scheduled for sentencing on July 12.
- George Chiang, 45, of Granada Hills, a real estate development consultant who pleaded guilty in June 2020 to one count of racketeering conspiracy and is scheduled for sentencing on July 19.
- George Esparza, 37, of Boyle Heights, Huizar’s former special assistant, who pleaded guilty in July 2020 to one count of racketeering conspiracy and is scheduled for sentencing on July 26.
- Salvador Huizar, 57, of Boyle Heights, José Huizar’s brother, who testified as a witness for the prosecution in the Shen Zhen trial and pleaded guilty in October 2022 to a felony charge of making false statements to federal investigators. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 2.
The FBI investigated this matter with assistance from IRS Criminal Investigation.
Assistant United States Attorney Mack E. Jenkins, Chief of the Criminal Division, and Assistant United States Attorneys Cassie D. Palmer, Susan S. Har, and Brian R. Faerstein of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, are prosecuting this case.
Any member of the public who has information related to this or any other public corruption matter in the City of Los Angeles is encouraged to send information to the FBI’s email tip line at tips@fbi.gov or to contact the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office at (310) 477-6565.
Contact
Ciaran McEvoy
Public Information Officer
ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov
(213) 894-4465
There is no such address 1537 Killarney Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065. Official Record Map Book 15689 Page 49 ([APN 5464030027, south] aerial easement restriction), Cal. Civ. Code § 337.15(a) ([APN 5464030027, north] PS-456 /Randall Ct. surveyed roadway legal access).
The compensation in financial damages to Gary Roy by the City of Los Angeles for violations of the Unruh Act, Title VI & VIII of the Fair Housing Act and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, which comprises $2,010,889.67 base damages (LASC Cases BC422522/BC413819-2012) plus interest to 2024 and 4 times penalty is a total of $22,949,211.65, as at Dec. 2023.
1538 Randall Ct 
Repost: With all of the overwhelming documented evidence, with LA City Councilmembers and their co-conspirators, guilty pleas in federal court for pay-to-play, bribery, RICO, intimidation of constituents & attorneys, honest services fraud, etc. why have US Department of Justice cases like this Randall Court one not been remedied? Who is protecting the Los Angeles City Council & Mayor?
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The Nuremberg trials (199 defendants) were conducted in 1 year from Nov. 20, 1945 (Sep. 2, 1945) to Oct. 1, 1946; the US national debt when the government ran efficiently was $269 billion. The trial of Jose Huizar (5 defendants) has been conducted in 11+ years from November 7, 2018 (Mar. 6, 2011) to unknown; the US national debt is $30 trillion. Efficiency is seriously lacking in the current administration.
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