Ex-Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar is expected to begin his prison sentence following his conviction on pay-for-play scheme charges in 2023.
In January 2024, a federal judge last year sentenced Huizar to 13 years in prison in a public corruption case involving at least $1.5 million in cash and benefits in exchange for helping push downtown real estate projects through the city’s approval process. pilots and for fraud on his taxes. .
Prosecutors also recommended that Huizar pay more than $400,000 in restitution.
The 55-year-old politician from Boyle Heights pleaded guilty a year ago to federal charges of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and tax evasion.
In 2023, Huizar, who represented downtown LA for 15 years, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and one count of tax evasion. The Justice Department said Huizar used his elected position to make himself and his friends richer.
Ringo HW Chiu / AP
“Huizar has admitted to orchestrating a racketeering scheme that enriched himself and others as they sought to monopolize political power at the expense of the residents of Los Angeles,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in January 2023.
Estrada added that this case was “one of the most extensive and blatant cases of public corruption to come to light in this district.”
KCAL News obtained evidence that prosecutors used to convict Huizar. A video shows $200,000 in bribe money stuffed into a Johnny Walker Blue Label whiskey box, along with another Don Julio box filled with the same amount. KCAL also obtained a recorded conversation between Huizar and a longtime aide, George Esparza, as officers approached them. Investigators said Huizar asked Esparza to hold the first $200,000 payment.
As part of his plea deal, Huizar admitted that he implemented a pay-to-play scheme in which he used his office to assist real estate developers who helped pay off bribes and other illegal financial benefits. Prosecutors said he and other city officials demanded and accepted cash bribes, casino chips, expensive meals and tickets to concerts and sporting events.
In addition, government officials accepted prostitution and escort services, flights on private jets and commercial airlines, and stays in luxury hotels and casinos.
Finally, Huizar admitted to accepting a $600,000 bribe from a billionaire real estate developer to confidentially settle a pending sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Huizar by a former employee.
The plan also eliminated another official, a former deputy mayor Raymond Ze Wah Chan. In March 2024, a jury found the 69-year-old guilty of one count of conspiracy to violate the RICO Act, seven counts of honest services fraud, three counts of federal program bribery and one count of making false statements to a federal government. desk. Months after his conviction, a judge ordered Chan to spend the next 144 months, or twelve years, in prison and pay the city of Los Angeles $752,457.
‘Chan abused his public office and tried to deepen its corruption city politics for the benefit of his own business interests,” Estrada said. “Today’s ruling sends a message to the public and City Hall that our government cannot be for sale and that those who undermine our democracy through pay-to-play schemes will be prosecuted. in the broadest sense of the law.”
Chan’s lawyer described him as an honest former government official who during the trial was “just an innocent bystander who was narratively dragged into a misguided RICO theory.”
“He was helpful – almost to a fault,” Michael Freedman told the jury. ‘Huizar used him just like Huizar used everyone else. Ray Chan didn’t create problems – he solved problems.’
