NBC4’s John Cádiz Klemack speaks with José Huizar in an exclusive interview after the former LA City Councilmember was sentenced to 13 years in prison for what prosecutors called “corruption on a massive scale.”
The older brother of former Los Angeles City Councilmember José Huizar was sentenced Friday morning for lying to the FBI.
Salvador Huizar will have to perform 100 community service and pay a $4,250 fine for lying to the FBI about receiving envelopes of cash from the now-imprisoned councilman.
The elder Huizar pleaded guilty in Oct. 2022 on one felony count of making false statements to investigators, acknowledging that he repeatedly lied about accepting cash from his brother to a federal grand jury and during an interview with FBI agents and prosecutors, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The light sentencing is the result of a plea deal. Salvador Huizar cooperated with the investigation and testified at the trial of a development company that was subsequently convicted of paying bribes to the then-councilman.
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Court papers show the elder Huzier admitted to have accepted envelopes of cash from José Huizar on at least 20 occasions.
In exchange, Salvador simultaneously wrote checks or facilitated electronic payments from his own bank account to his brother or directly to paid off his brother's expenses for the same amount, the prosecutor said?
According to other court documents, Huizar asked his younger brother on multiple occasions about the cash, and José Huizar reportedly said “it was better that (Salvador Huizar) did not know the source of the cash,'' according to the plea agreement.
Huizar originally faced a sentence of up to five years behind bars.
Younger brother José Huizar is serving a 13-year prison sentence for accepting bribes from downtown developers and cheating on his taxes. He pleaded guilty in January 2023 to conspiracy to violate the RICO Act and tax evasion.
