Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar, an ambitious player in city politics for nearly two decades, was arrested Tuesday, becoming the most prominent figure to face charges in the federal investigation into corruption at City Hall, according to people with knowledge of the case.
Huizar faces charges arising from allegations he ran a sprawling pay-to-play scheme, in which real estate developers allegedly were shaken down for cash bribes and campaign donations in exchange for Huizar’s help getting high-rise development projects through the city’s arduous approval process.
Along the way, the councilman and his associates allegedly enjoyed free plane travel, lavish meals, poker chips and other perks offered up by developers.
Charges against Huizar had long been anticipated.
FBI agents raided his home and offices in 2018, and prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office have closed in on Huizar in recent months, methodically charging associates who admitted to taking part in illicit deals involving the councilman. In plea deals they struck with the government, a former aide to Huizar, one of his political fundraisers, and a real estate consultant agreed to cooperate with the investigation into Huizar and others in City Hall.
Huizar, who was taken into custody by federal agents at his Boyle Heights home, is expected to make an initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon. An attorney for Huizar did not immediately comment. U.S Atty. Nick Hanna was expected to announce the specific charges against Huizar at a news conference Tuesday morning.
Council President Nury Martinez said she would immediately seek to remove Huizar from office.
“While today’s announcement on the arrest of Councilmember Huizar is not unexpected, the horrendous and disgusting allegations leveled against him and others have painted a dark cloud over our city government for a long time now,” Martinez said in a statement. “Effective today, I will begin the process of removing him from office, so that the good people of Council District 14 and the City of Los Angeles will be fairly and honorably represented. That is our duty and we must do it.”
Prior to his arrest, prosecutors had not identified Huizar by name, referring to him in the associates’ cases as “Councilmember A.”
But Huizar’s identity was clear in court documents in which prosecutors described a councilman who was heavily involved in the city’s oversight of real estate planning and had a relative running to replace him when he reached his term limit.
Huizar chaired the influential Planning and Land Use Management Committee, and his wife briefly mounted a campaign to replace him before abandoning the idea shortly after the FBI raids.
Richelle Huizar’s short-lived run for her husband’s council seat figures prominently in the government’s case against the councilman, who prosecutors said was intent on getting his wife elected to preserve the clout and access to developers’ cash he had amassed while in office.
The money laundering, extortion and other illicit activities Huizar is accused of deploying to carry out his plan amounted to a criminal enterprise, prosecutors argued in court filings.
Richelle Huizar has not been charged in the case, and it is unclear from court records whether prosecutors believe she participated in her husband’s alleged crimes.
Huizar’s arrest comes nearly three months after one of his colleagues, former City Councilman Mitchell Englander, agreed to plead guilty in a related corruption case centered on envelopes of cash and other bribes provided by a Southern California businessman.
And it comes almost two years after FBI agents searched Huizar’s home and offices, giving the public their first indication that the councilman was under investigation.
After those raids, Huizar was removed from two powerful council committees — one that reviews major real estate projects and another that green lights tax breaks for hotel developers. And in recent weeks, Huizar stopped attending council meetings altogether, amid calls from his colleagues for him to step down.
The arrest represents a dizzying fall for Huizar. Five years ago, he won a resounding election victory, securing his third and final term on the council. At that point, he had widespread support from business leaders, the city’s labor unions and advocates for transportation improvements, such as bicycle lanes.
During that campaign, then-Council President Herb Wesson described Huizar as his best friend on the council. By 2018, Huizar’s wife was viewed as a strong candidate to run for his seat once he was forced to step down at the end of this year due to term limits.
Huizar began pressing donors to give big to a political action committee set up to support her candidacy — activities that later became part of the federal government’s case. But Richelle Huizar abandoned her campaign in the wake of the FBI raids.
In recent months, prosecutors filed a series of cases alleging the councilman received, or attempted to obtain, bribes from three different developers pursuing three different projects in his district.
Political fundraiser Justin Jangwoo Kim pleaded guilty to helping the developer of a 20-story residential tower to arrange a bribe for the councilman. Kim admitted ferrying cash to a Huizar aide, who in turn delivered $200,000 in a box to Huizar, according to details in federal filings.
Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar, seated at a council meeting in 2018 with an unidentified person next to him.
(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)
Prosecutors also struck a plea agreement with real estate consultant George Chiang, who admitted to participating in a separate bribery scheme involving the councilman and developers of a planned hotel tower.
Although the developers were not named, details in federal filings show that the businessmen were seeking to redevelop the site of the Luxe Hotel on Figueroa Street, across from the L.A. Live entertainment complex.
Last month, former Huizar aide George Esparza reached his own plea deal, affirming that a Chinese billionaire provided him and the councilman trips to Las Vegas, casino chips and other bribes.
That same billionaire provided Huizar with $600,000 in financial assistance to help him settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former aide, according to prosecutors. The settlement allowed Huizar to dispose of a thorny political problem months before he faced reelection in 2015.