A jury delivered a swift and decisive judgment in a federal corruption case concentrating on former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan, discovering Wednesday that Chan secured bribes for himself and for former Councilmember Jose Huizar as a part of a sprawling pay-to-play scheme.
Inside just a few hours, the jury discovered Chan responsible on 12 of 12 counts — racketeering conspiracy, bribery, trustworthy providers fraud and giving false statements to investigators — in a case targeted on monetary advantages supplied by actual property builders with initiatives in Huizar’s district.
U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada mentioned Chan, 67, used his management function at Metropolis Corridor to “favor corrupt people and corporations keen to play soiled” to win approval of downtown high-rises. Residents of Los Angeles, Estrada mentioned, deserved “a lot better.”
“With at this time’s verdict, we ship a powerful message that the general public won’t stand for corruption and that pay-to-play politics has no place in our group,” he mentioned in a press release.
Chan labored for the town for greater than three many years, a lot of it on the Division of Constructing and Security, the place he ascended to the highest job. In 2016, he was employed by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti to function deputy mayor over financial growth, supervising the Planning Division, Constructing and Security, and different metropolis companies. He held that job for barely greater than a yr.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 10.
Chan’s lawyer, John Hanusz, mentioned his shopper shall be submitting an enchantment. All through the trial, he argued that Chan was not a part of the felony enterprise led by Huizar, who was just lately sentenced to 13 years in jail on racketeering and tax evasion prices.
Huizar admitted final yr that he acquired a big selection of bribes and different advantages from downtown builders, together with playing chips at casinos, flights on non-public jets, marketing campaign contributions, luxurious lodge stays, live performance tickets and providers from prostitutes.
“This case was, and all the time has been, about Jose Huizar,” Hanusz mentioned.
In the course of the two-week trial, prosecutors portrayed Chan as an important middleman between Huizar, who wielded big energy over downtown growth initiatives, and Chinese language actual property builders.
In a single specific scheme, prosecutors mentioned, Chan helped Huizar secretly settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former aide. Billionaire Wei Huang, proprietor of the Chinese language growth firm Shen Zhen New World I, supplied Huizar with $600,000 in collateral that allowed Huizar to safe a financial institution mortgage and repay the aide, they mentioned.
Shen Zhen, proprietor of the L.A. Grand Lodge in downtown Los Angeles, later proposed a 77-story skyscraper that drew help from Huizar. The settlement cash arrived at an important second for the Eastside council member, who was working for reelection and going through a probably formidable problem from veteran former L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina.
That settlement cost, FBI Particular Agent Andrew Civetti testified earlier this week, “was on the coronary heart of this investigation.”
At the moment, Huizar feared the sexual harassment case would finish his profession, prosecution witnesses mentioned. The supply of the settlement cash, stored secret throughout Huizar’s 2015 victorious reelection marketing campaign, didn’t develop into public till 5 years later, after the primary set of prices had been filed within the Huizar investigation.
Wednesday’s responsible verdict additionally encompassed Chan’s dealings with one other Chinese language developer who sought to redevelop the Luxe Lodge, throughout from the L.A. Dwell leisure complicated. Prosecutors mentioned Chan, whereas working for the town, helped arrange an organization that took the developer, Shenzhen Hazens, on as a shopper.
Whereas working as deputy mayor, prosecutors mentioned, Chan labored to line up help for the Luxe challenge. Former Planning Fee President David Ambroz testified final week that Chan pressured him to help the Luxe challenge throughout a one-on-one assembly away from Metropolis Corridor — and sounded extra like a “employed gun” for the challenge than a deputy mayor.
After leaving metropolis employment, Chan acquired cost from the developer for his work transferring the challenge by the town approval course of, prosecutors mentioned.
“He set himself up for an enormous payday … as soon as he left the town,” mentioned Asst. U.S. Atty. Cassie Palmer throughout closing arguments Tuesday.
The jury additionally discovered Chan responsible of serving to safe a bribe from Shenzhen Hazens — a dedication of a $100,000 marketing campaign contribution to help a bid for Metropolis Council by Huizar’s spouse, Richelle Huizar. She later dropped out of the race.
Prosecutors mentioned the push to elect Huizar’s spouse was designed to assist individuals within the felony enterprise, together with Chan and Huizar, retain their energy over downtown growth.
Legal professionals for Chan repeatedly sought to undermine the federal government’s case, saying that key prosecution witnesses had lied to FBI brokers through the investigation and shouldn’t be deemed credible. These witnesses later pleaded responsible and are hoping for leniency at their sentencings, the protection staff mentioned.
One more prosecution witness, businessman Andy Wang, has by no means been arrested or charged, despite the fact that he supplied money in envelopes to former Councilmember Mitchell Englander inside on line casino loos, the protection staff mentioned.
Englander was sentenced in 2021 to 14 months in jail for mendacity to federal authorities about his dealings with Wang, who supplied him $15,000 in secret funds, in addition to an costly night time in Las Vegas.
Chan, whereas working intently with builders, was motivated not by greed however by a want to make L.A. extra business-friendly, Hanusz mentioned. Whereas Huizar and his associates accepted flights to Las Vegas, playing chips, lavish lodge lodging and escort providers, Chan acquired none of these issues, he mentioned.
“There was no quid professional quo on this case with Ray Chan,” Hanusz instructed the jury. “With Jose Huizar, there completely was.”
Chan is the final defendant charged within the Metropolis Corridor pay-to-play investigation — dubbed “On line casino Loyale” by the federal authorities on account of Huizar’s frequent Las Vegas journeys — to go on trial.
George Esparza, Huizar’s onetime aide, pleaded responsible in 2020 to racketeering conspiracy however has not but been sentenced. He testified towards Chan, as did actual property advisor George Chiang, who labored with Chan and likewise pleaded responsible to racketeering conspiracy.
Shen Zhen New World I, the corporate that proposed the 77-story tower, was convicted in 2022 of offering Huizar an enormous array of bribes. A decide later fined the corporate $4 million. Its proprietor, Wei Huang, fled the nation and is now a fugitive, in line with the Division of Justice.
Wednesday’s responsible verdict capped the second federal corruption trial concentrating on Chan. The primary was derailed final yr after Chan’s lawyer, Harland Braun, was hospitalized and unable to return to work for months. A decide declared a mistrial.
The case towards Chan coated the five-year interval from 2013 to 2018, when Huizar was accountable for the council’s Planning and Land Use Administration Committee. In that place, Huizar had the facility to determine when actual property initiatives acquired a public listening to and once they can be despatched to the total council for a vote.
Prosecutors mentioned Chan helped Huizar along with his sexual harassment lawsuit across the identical time that Huizar killed a proposed merger of the Division of Metropolis Planning and the Division of Constructing and Security. That merger threatened Chan’s job as normal supervisor at Constructing and Security, they mentioned.
Authorities attorneys portrayed these two occasions — the killing of the merger and the settlement of the harassment case — as linked. One stored Huizar in workplace, whereas the opposite stored Chan accountable for his company, mentioned Palmer, the assistant U.S. lawyer.
