A federal grand jury Thursday issued a 34-count indictment against Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar, alleging that he accepted bribes, concealed income, evaded taxes and lied to investigators.
Huizar, 61, is accused of accepting $ 1.5 million in “illicit financial benefits,” the US Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said in a statement. He was arrested last month and released on $ 100,000 bail.
A previous federal charge of conspiracy to violate Racketeer’s Corrupt and Influential Organizations Act was added to the indictment Thursday, said Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
A Huizar spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night.
The new allegations include multiple counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, interstate travel in aid of organized crime, bribery and money laundering, and one-time charges for structuring cash deposits to hide bribes, making a false statement to a financial institution, making statements. false federal law enforcement and tax evasion.
The case stems from allegations that Huizar received bribes from an unidentified Chinese billionaire developer and others in exchange for weighing favorably on the proposed construction projects.
Huizar was chairman of the city’s powerful Land Use and Planning Committee.
The indictment alleges that the councilman received nearly $ 800,000 in benefits from the billionaire, described by the Federal Attorney’s office as a multinational developer who owns a hotel in the Huizar district.
The developer wanted to build a 77-story building in the Huizar district.
Prosecutors alleged in the criminal complaint last month that Huizar received “direct and indirect financial benefits” on more than a dozen trips to Las Vegas casinos, which included trips on private jets and stays in elegant villas.
It did not report its “unlawful benefits” on tax returns, the United States Attorney’s office said.
The grand jury indictment alleges that Huizar operated his office as a “criminal organization,” according to the United States Attorney’s statement, and that others, including a former deputy mayor, Huizar’s special assistant, and a real estate development consultant. , participated.
In May, George Esparza, 33, a Huizar “special assistant” until 2017, agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with investigators about his role in the alleged plan.
The FBI raided Huizar’s home and office in November 2018, and he was subsequently stripped of his committee’s duties.
“During the search of his home, agents seized approximately $ 129,000 in cash that he hid in Huizar’s closet and that, according to the indictment, he received from a Chinese billionaire and another businessman seeking favors from him,” federal prosecutors said. in his statement on Wednesday.
Huizar was scheduled to be processed Monday in federal court by videoconference.
The indictment is part of a larger investigation into City of Los Angeles corruption that has seen five people charged. Former councilman Mitch Englander pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of scheming to falsify travel facts, funded by an entrepreneur, that led to Las Vegas and Palm Springs.
Huizar has represented the city center since 2005.
