Former L.A. City Councilman José Huizar pleads guilty to racketeering conspiracy, tax evasion
Former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar pleaded guilty Friday morning to federal charges of racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion.
The charges are part of a City Hall-based bribery and money-laundering scheme in which Huizar took more than $1.5 million in cash, gambling trips and escorts in exchange for his support of a planned downtown hotel project.
Huizar signed a plea agreement to plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion on Wednesday, and the plea agreement was filed in Los Angeles federal court Thursday afternoon.
Huizar arrived in court Friday morning and appeared before U.S. District Judge John Walter, where he pleaded guilty to the two charges. Judge Walter then scheduled sentencing for April 3.
In a public statement he released Friday morning, Jose Huizar said: "I want to apologize to my family, constituents, and to the City of Los Angeles. My actions were not acceptable, and I will accept the consequences for my actions. It is time for healing. My family needs some healing, and I hope that my acceptance of responsibility will allow the City to heal from the harm that my actions have caused."
The plea-agreement document states that Huizar faces a sentence of up to 26 years behind bars once he pleads guilty, but he has agreed to a prison sentence of no less than nine years in exchange for the guilty pleas. The judge has the final say in sentencing.
At sentencing, Huizar will be ordered to pay restitution of about $1.85 million, the document states. Sentencing is now set for April 3, 2023.
There is no immediate on word on whether Huizar's co-defendant, former Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan, will also plead guilty. Trial for the defendants had been scheduled for Feb. 21.
Two trials arising out of a 34-count indictment against Huizar and his associates have ended in convictions. Real estate development company Shen Zhen New World I LLC was found guilty last month of paying Huizar $1 million in bribes to obtain city approval to build a 77-story skyscraper.
In the first Huizar-related trial, a federal jury in June found Bel Air real estate developer David Lee and 940 Hill LLC, a Lee-controlled company, guilty of felony charges, including fraud and bribery, for providing $500,000 in cash to Huizar and his special assistant in exchange for their help in resolving a labor organization's appeal of their downtown development project.
During the Shen Zhen trial, Huizar's 83-year-old mother, his older brother and his estranged wife testified for the prosecution.
Chan, a deputy mayor who oversaw economic development for ex-Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2016 and 2017, is accused along with Huizar of shaking down developers.
As part of his roles on the City Council, Huizar was the chairman of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, commonly referred to as the PLUM Committee, which oversaw major commercial and residential development projects in the city.
Federal prosecutors have thus far convicted a total of nine defendants along with receiving over $3 million in criminal penalties to resolve the federal probe into two other major real estate development companies, as a result of "Operation Casino Loyale," the ongoing corruption investigation into City Hall corruption being conducted by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office.