Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar was arrested early Tuesday by FBI agents investigating a multi-year ‘pay-to-play’ corruption scheme inside City Hall in which several officials were accused of accepting cash and other perks from developers who sought approval for real estate projects. Eric Leonard reports for the NBC4 I-Team at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, June 26, 2020.
Former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan was sentenced Friday afternoon to 12 years in federal prison for racketeering conspiracy and bribery charges.
Chan was a part of a $1.5 million City Hall scheme with downtown high-rise developers alongside already convicted ex-Councilman José Huizar.
Chan, who had worked for the city for over three decades primarily at the Department of Building and Safety before being hired by former Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2016 to serve as deputy mayor over economic development, was convicted in Los Angeles federal court in March of all 12 felony counts he faced: one count of conspiracy to violate the RICO Act, seven counts of honest services wire fraud, three counts of bribery and one count of making false statements to a federal government agency.
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While operating the so-called District 14 Enterprise or CD-14, Chan and Huizar among others funneled millions of dollars in bribes for themselves. Chan himself pocked approximately $750,000 during his involvement.
Chan played the middle man between Huizar and the developers, structuring many of the larger bribes. Chan arranged what prosecutors called “the single largest bribe payment obtained in the scheme'' – the secret funneling of $600,000 from a billionaire real estate developer. Huizar used that money to confidentially settle a pending sexual harassment lawsuit from a former staffer. Chan hid the bribe by keeping it “shrouded in layers of concealment,'' according to court papers.
Chan also helped facilitate a $100,000 campaign contribution commitment from developers “Hazens and Sawyer” for Huizar’s wife’s candidacy to succeed Huizar as CD-14’s Councilmember. In exchange. Hazen would receive Huizar’s votes to approve the Luxe Hotel project.
Chan also helped facilitate various other bribes from Hazens to Huizar, including “tens of thousands of dollars in sham real estate consulting fees, concert tickets, China travel expenses, and contributions to Huizar’s 2015 campaign debt and alma mater high school” according to United States Attorney Martin Estrada.
“Chan abused his public office and sought to deepen the corruption of city politics for the benefit of his own business interests,” said Estrada. “Today’s sentence sends a message to the public and City Hall alike that our government should not be for sale and those that undermine our democracy through pay-to-play schemes will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Chan will also pay $752,457 in restitution to the city of Los Angeles. Chan must self-surrender to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons no later than Jan. 6 to begin his sentence.
City News Service contributed to this report.
