Los Angeles Metropolis Atty. Mike Feuer lied to authorities investigators and sure obstructed justice throughout a large federal probe right into a fraudulent lawsuit orchestrated by his workplace, in keeping with an affidavit by an FBI agent that was made public this week.
Feuer, who has not been charged with any crimes, maintained his innocence this week.
He has lengthy denied realizing concerning the fraud behind the lawsuit involving exorbitant Division of Water and Energy payments and has equally denied information of a hush cash cost to a Beverly Hills authorized assistant who threatened to show the scheme.
Not solely did Feuer know concerning the authorized assistant’s threats, however he “impliedly directed” one in every of his prime deputies to deal with her calls for, FBI Particular Agent Andrew Civetti wrote within the Jan. 31, 2020 affidavit in help of a warrant to look Feuer’s Apple iCloud account.
As federal brokers investigated the town lawyer’s workplace and its function within the fraudulent lawsuit, Feuer misled the FBI concerning the timeline of occasions and the extent of his workplace’s function within the scheme, Civetti mentioned within the affidavit.
“A number of sources of proof present possible trigger to consider that Feuer obstructed justice [and] made materially deceptive statements to the FBI” about his information of key occasions within the scandal, Civetti wrote.
The affidavit and several other others by Civetti had been a part of a sprawling federal legal investigation that led to expenses in opposition to three former prime metropolis officers and a New York lawyer.
Making false statements to the FBI and obstructing justice are federal crimes that may carry as much as a number of years in jail, however prosecutors haven’t filed expenses in opposition to Feuer.
Throughout a July 2019 interview, which occurred whereas federal brokers had been raiding Metropolis Corridor and DWP headquarters, Feuer’s solutions concerning the origins of the fraudulent lawsuit and his information of it had been “materials and deceptive,” Civetti wrote within the Jan. 31, 2020 affidavit.
Feuer continued to talk by telephone or in particular person to prosecutors, both straight or via his chief of workers, Leela Kapur, in keeping with Civetti’s affidavit.
A few of the Civetti affidavits depend on data offered to the FBI by one in every of Feuer’s former prime deputies, Thom Peters, who oversaw civil litigation within the metropolis lawyer’s workplace. Civetti cited calendar entries, textual content messages, and an audio recording that he mentioned appeared to help Peters’ account.
On Tuesday, a trove of paperwork within the legal case, together with the Civetti affidavits, was launched after The Occasions and Shopper Watchdog moved to unseal them.
Feuer’s “narrative of obvious obfuscation, false and deceptive statements, and omissions” had been a part of an effort shield his political fame, Civetti wrote within the Jan. 31, 2020 affidavit.
“On a number of events,” Feuer advised investigators that he needed to run for mayor in 2022 and “believed he can be among the many favorites,” Civetti wrote.
Feuer did run for mayor however dropped out earlier than the first. Final yr, he launched an unsuccessful bid for the congressional seat being vacated by Adam Schiff.
Feuer this week mentioned in an announcement that the affidavits relied on “lies” from Peters, who later pleaded responsible for his function within the scheme.
“Any declare that I knew about collusion and tried to hide it’s absurd,” Feuer mentioned.
“I cooperated totally with the U.S. Legal professional’s workers and am glad they in the end obtained all of the precise information,” Feuer mentioned. “After they did, and assessed every witness’s credibility, they prosecuted the wrongdoers and acknowledged there was no ongoing investigation into me.”
Reached this week, Peters advised The Occasions: “I’m happy, however in no way shocked, to see that my statements to the FBI about Feuer had been corroborated by a number of, unbiased sources.”
A longtime politician, Feuer served on the State Meeting and Metropolis Council earlier than voters elected him to be the town’s prime lawyer in 2013. He grew up in San Bernardino because the son of an educator and Nazi prisoner of warfare camp survivor. Fastidious and impressive, he earned the nickname “Saint Michael” from metropolis councilmembers for his deal with ethics. His time period as metropolis lawyer led to December 2022.
The Occasions and Shopper Watchdog had sought the roughly 1,400 pages of paperwork, which embody greater than 30 search warrants filed throughout the federal government’s investigation, to raised perceive what investigators discovered about Feuer.
In a ruling final month, U.S. District Decide Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. mentioned the paperwork could possibly be unsealed, with private knowledge and references to grand jury proceedings redacted.
The paperwork present prosecutors’ need to pore over Feuer’s telephone information and emails, and lift questions on why they by no means charged Feuer with obstruction of justice or mendacity to federal authorities.
Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in Los Angeles, declined to touch upon the dearth of expenses in opposition to Feuer. McEvoy mentioned the workplace has a “robust historical past” of convicting public officers.
“As we now have acknowledged earlier than, the place the proof didn’t set up each aspect of a federal crime past an affordable doubt, we now have not pursued expenses,” McEvoy mentioned.
Three individuals went to jail following the federal government’s legal probe, together with David F. Alexander, a former DWP cybersecurity chief who was charged with mendacity to the FBI about his function in a bribery scheme and is serving a four-year jail sentence. Peters was sentenced to 9 months of dwelling confinement.
The corruption scheme originated after the launch of a brand new billing system by the DWP in 2013, which resulted in hundreds of consumers receiving inaccurate utility payments.
One couple in Van Nuys was despatched a virtually $52,000 invoice, one in every of a number of examples of presidency ineptitude that stoked public anger and prompted lawsuits in opposition to the town.
The Metropolis Legal professional’s Workplace quietly sought out a lawyer to file a class-action lawsuit in opposition to the town over the billing mess. With a “pleasant” lawyer on the opposite facet colluding with Feuer’s staff, all of the claims could possibly be settled on phrases favorable to the DWP.
Paul Paradis, a New York lawyer employed by the Metropolis Legal professional’s Workplace who later labored as a authorities witness, wrote the sham lawsuit and recruited an Ohio-based lawyer to file it.
The town’s plan was endangered, nevertheless, when the Beverly Hills authorized assistant threatened to go public concerning the metropolis’s dealing with of the DWP mess and demanded about $1 million to return delicate paperwork that might expose the collusive lawsuit. The authorized assistant, Julissa Salgueiro, previously labored for a Beverly Hills lawyer, Paul Kiesel, who had partnered with the town on the DWP billing litigation.
Peters, the highest Feuer deputy, would finally plead responsible to aiding and abetting extortion for his function within the hush cash scheme. Salgueiro, the authorized assistant, acquired $800,000 from Kiesel, in keeping with court docket information.
Prosecutors, of their charging paperwork in Peters’ case, made clear that different senior officers within the metropolis lawyer’s workplace knew concerning the authorized assistant’s threats. These officers went unnamed in legal court docket filings and by no means confronted expenses.
Feuer has repeatedly advised reporters that he didn’t discover out concerning the involvement of his attorneys within the collusive lawsuit till April 2019. After incriminating emails had been found on a pc within the Metropolis Legal professional’s Workplace, his workers alerted reporters and the civil court docket, Feuer has mentioned.
“I labored with our staff to reveal that collusion instantly,” Feuer advised the Occasions this week. He additionally has mentioned that he didn’t know concerning the authorized assistant’s extortion threats till January 2022, when prosecutors introduced expenses in opposition to Peters.
The information unsealed this week inform a unique story.
Civetti wrote within the Jan. 31 affidavit that “there’s possible trigger to consider that Feuer was in reality conscious of Salgueiro’s threats to disclose details about the Metropolis Legal professional’s Workplace’s litigation practices except she had been paid for her silence.”
“Feuer was not solely conscious of Salgueiro’s threats and calls for, however he impliedly directed Peters to make sure that Kiesel settled these calls for by paying a big sum of hush cash,” Civetti wrote.
In an interview with investigators, Civetti wrote, Peters recounted telling Feuer in fall 2017 concerning the authorized assistant’s threats and calls for.
Weeks later, Peters attended a Dec. 1 assembly with Feuer and different metropolis workers the place they mentioned Salguiero’s threats, in keeping with the search warrant.
An lawyer for Salgueiro has emphasised to The Occasions that his shopper has by no means been charged with a criminal offense.
Peters additionally advised investigators a few January 2019 assembly with Feuer, in keeping with the search warrant supplies.
Feuer this week mentioned that he was by no means advised in 2017 about collusion within the lawsuit, and he denied that the January 2019 assembly occurred.
Within the affidavit, Civetti mentioned calendars and electronic mail information help that the January 2019 assembly occurred, as did a recording of a subsequent telephone name.
At that 2019 assembly, Peters advised Feuer there was a powerful probability that paperwork would grow to be public, revealing the Metropolis Legal professional’s Workplace’s function within the collusive lawsuit, in keeping with Civetti’s affidavit. Among the many proof had been information exhibiting that attorneys below Feuer had drafted the criticism filed in opposition to the town, in keeping with the affidavit.
Peters recounted to the FBI that Feuer was in a state of maximum shock.
“Feuer’s response was like nothing Peters had seen earlier than,” Civetti wrote in his abstract.
“Feuer was extremely emotional and visibly upset, overlaying his face together with his palms for a protracted interval. Feuer repeated a number of instances that this ‘can’t be so.’”
Afterward, Peters known as Paradis, Kiesel and others, mentioning a plan to be carried out “at Mike’s request” — referring to Feuer. Civetti pointed to the telephone name, which was surreptitiously recorded, as one other piece of proof exhibiting Feuer’s involvement.
