Like many Democrats seeking support from progressive voters, Franky Carrillo — who is running for a seat in the Los Angeles state Assembly — pledged not to accept campaign donations from oil and tobacco companies when interviewed early in his campaign by local Democratic clubs.
What Carrillo didn’t tell them: At the time, he owned as much as $820,000 worth of stock in Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Philip Morris, among other fossil fuel and tobacco companies, and used his personal wealth to finance his campaign.
Carrillo says he has since “completely divested,” without specifying which shares he sold. The California Democratic Party does not accept contributions from the oil and tobacco industries and views them as inconsistent with efforts to promote public health and combat climate change.
Now Carrillo’s investment portfolio — which he says he invested with money he received for being wrongly convicted of murder in the 1990s — has become an issue in the Eastside race where two Democrats are vying for a seat in Sacramento.
“I have stood by my promise to run a campaign without that money,” Carrillo said in a statement to The Times. “I see no contradiction and I have rejected it. Meanwhile, many of those same industries are spending over a million dollars combined on me and my opponent.”
Carrillo points to the independent expenditures Chevron and Pacific Gas & Electric have made to support Jessica Caloza, who is also a Democrat. Pacific Gas & Electric has also contributed to committees supporting Carrillo. Independent spending by groups that lobby the Capitol can influence legislative races but is not directly controlled by candidates.
Candidates running for state office in California must file a personal financial disclosure detailing their sources of income, gifts, investments and real estate holdings. Caloza reported no investments based on the disclosure it filed in December 2023.
Read more: Environmentalists investing in big oil? Inside the Surprising Stock Portfolios of California Lawmakers
Carrillo was late in filing his economic disclosures and paid the state elections watchdog a $300 fine for missing the deadline to report it before the March primary. After he filed his declaration of economic interests, environmentalists supporting Caloza raised concerns about what it revealed: stock ownership in seven fossil fuel companies and three tobacco companies worth a total of between $92,000 and $820,000, along with dozens of other investments. (The forms require reporting the value of investments in ranges.)
“We condemn Carrillo for his substantial investments in oil, tobacco and coal, which he claims he sold only after these assets became a campaign issue,” said California Environment Voters, which has endorsed Caloza. wrote in a letter last month.
“If he has truly divested himself from these industries, the timing raises serious questions about accountability and transparency.”
On his campaign website, Carrillo says he wants to hold polluters accountable for the health risks they cause communities and help the state transition to a green economy.
Read more: Your guide to the California Assembly District 52 race: Caloza vs. Carrillo
He said he was not aware he owned fossil fuel and tobacco stocks because financial advisors control his investments. He said he sold in June 2024, but did not specify which shares he sold when The Times questioned him.
The investments stem from a $10 million settlement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department that Carrillo received in 2016.
Carrillo was a teenager when he was wrongly accused of killing a Lynwood man in a 1991 drive-by shooting. He spent 20 years behind bars before his murder conviction was overturned in 2011 with the help of the Innocence Project, a non-profit organization that fights torts. convictions.
“Because I was 16 and poor when I was sent to prison, I didn’t have the opportunity to invest or learn how to invest,” he told The Times. He said he assigned “a significant portion of the settlement” to financial advisors to manage and that he was “not involved in the day-to-day operations” of those investments.
“When it was brought to my attention, I moved my investments and filled out the paperwork to correct it,” Carrillo said. “The process took time, but it was resolved.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
