Former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar was sentenced to 13 years in prison Friday in a corruption case involving at least $1.5 million in cash and benefits in exchange for help in approving downtown LA real estate projects. Mekahlo Medina reports for the NBC4 News on Jan. 26, 2024.
Former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar surrendered to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Monday to begin his 13-year prison sentence for accepting bribes from downtown developers and cheating on his taxes.
"Jose Luis Huizar is currently in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Lompoc II," the Federal Bureau of Prisons said Monday.
Huizar had previously been ordered to self-surrender on Aug. 30 but was granted a five-week continuance for "good cause.''
Papers filed in federal court show that Huizar based his continuance request on "a new, unexpected, and extraordinary event,'' apparently connected to undisclosed medical reasons. The government did not object, documents show.
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Huizar, 56, pleaded guilty in January 2023 to felony charges of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and tax evasion.
Along with the 13-year prison term, Huizar was ordered to pay nearly $444,000 in restitution to the city of Los Angeles and almost $39,000 to the Internal Revenue Service. A court filing in February signed by the judge indicates Huizar paid the latter amount in full.
As of Monday morning, Huizar was not yet listed in the BOP's online inmate locator. His attorney declined comment.
Huizar's co-defendant, former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan, was sentenced on Friday to 12 years in federal prison for acting as the intermediary in Huizar's $1.5 million City Hall pay-to-play scheme with downtown high-rise developers.
Chan, 68, of Monterey Park was convicted in March by a jury in Los Angeles federal court of a dozen felony counts: 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.
U.S. District Judge John Walter ordered him to pay $752,457 in restitution to the city of Los Angeles, and self-surrender to the BOP no later than Jan. 6 to begin his sentence.
Huizar represented Council District 14, which includes downtown Los Angeles and its surrounding communities, from 2005 until his resignation in 2020. According to his lawyers, Huizar was "an evangelist for robust development'' in efforts to ensure Los Angeles was befitting of a "world-class city.''
Huizar admitted to operating a pay-to-play scheme in which he and others unlawfully used his office to give favorable treatment to real estate developers who financed and facilitated cash bribes, campaign donations and other illicit benefits.
Federal prosecutors said Huizar monetized position and leveraged his political clout for over $1.5 million in cash bribes, gambling chips, luxury trips, political contributions, prostitutes, extravagant meals, services, concerts and other gifts.
"If anyone dared rebuff his call to pay bribes, he punished them and their city projects, threatening developers with indefinitely delayed projects and financial peril,'' according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Chan acted as the intermediary who orchestrated bribes to Huizar from developers, lining his own pockets with at least $750,000 in the process. A letter to the court from the City Attorney's Office said that "the reputational damage Mr. Chan caused (to local government) is deep and not easily overcome.''
Federal prosecutors said that while Huizar "may have been the face of the pay-to-play scheme, (Chan) was the brains that devised some of the most sophisticated aspects'' of the conspiracy.
For example, 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 which Huizar used to confidentially settle a pending sexual harassment lawsuit from a former staffer. Structured by Chan, the bribe ``was shrouded in layers of
concealment,'' according to court papers.
The developer, Wei Huang, was also charged in the case but is considered a fugitive believed to be in China.
Chan worked for the city for more than three decades, much of it at the Department of Building and Safety, where he became general manager. In 2016, he was hired by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti to serve as deputy mayor over economic development, supervising the Planning Department, Building and Safety, and other city agencies.
Members and associates of the scheme included lobbyists, consultants and other city officials and staffers, who sought to personally enrich themselves and their families and associates in exchange for official acts. They included George Esparza, Huizar's former special assistant, real estate development consultant George Chiang, political fundraiser Justin Jangwoo Kim, and lobbyist Morrie Goldman, among others. Each pleaded guilty and agreed to
cooperate with the government's investigation.
Before Huizar pleaded guilty to federal charges, he and Chan were scheduled to go on trial together. A mistrial was declared in Chan's first trial last year due to a defense attorney's medical emergency.
