Fundraiser admits to delivering bribes in L.A. City Hall corruption probe

A political fundraiser has agreed to plead guilty to a federal bribery charge for helping a real estate developer pay off a Los Angeles City Councilmember to clear the way for a major development project.

In a plea agreement filed Thursday, Justin Jangwoo Kim, 53, said he would admit to a count of federal program bribery and agreed to cooperate with an ongoing investigation into corruption at City Hall. Kim could not immediately be reached for comment.

Kim is the second person to be charged publicly in the sweeping probe FBI agents and federal prosecutors have been pursuing quietly for more than two years. Last week, former Councilman Mitchell Englander was indicted on charges he tried to cover up payments and other gifts he allegedly received from another developer.

A real estate appraiser and consultant, Kim was a top fundraiser for a member of the Los Angeles City Council whom federal prosecutors referred to as “Councilmember A” in charging documents made public Thursday.

While they have kept the councilman’s identity secret, prosecutors said in court papers Thursday that Kim had helped the unnamed council member carry out a plan to “elect Councilmember A’s relative to the Los Angeles City Council once Councilmember A’s term expired.”

Councilman Jose Huizar, who faces term limits in December, spent much of 2018 working to get his wife, Richelle Huizar, elected to his seat. She dropped out of contention following an FBI raid on the couple’s house in November that year.

Huizar’s attorney Vicki Podberesky declined to comment.

The bribery scheme began in the summer of 2016, when a labor organization filed an appeal claiming that a proposed residential development in Councilmember A’s district violated state environmental law, prosecutors said Thursday.

The appeal, prosecutors said, blocked the development’s progress through the city’s powerful planning and land use commission, which must green light projects before they get final approval from the City Council.

The project’s developer, whom prosecutors referred to in court filings as “Developer C,” then allegedly called Kim and asked him to “obtain Councilmember A’s assistance with the appeal,” according to court filings. Communicating through one of his staffers, the council member told Kim he would not help the project move through City Hall “for free,” and that he “would require a financial benefit,” the filings said.

Over a series of meetings and other communications, the developer and council member used Kim and the staffer to negotiate a $500,000 bribe payment in exchange for the council member’s help.

In February or March 2017, Kim allegedly met with the developer, who gave him $400,000 cash in a paper bag that was intended for Councilmember A, according to the plea agreement. Kim admitted to investigators that he kept some of the money as a fee for facilitating the payment and gave the bulk of the cash to the council member’s staffer, who is referred to in court records as “City Staffer A-1.”

Around the same time, City Staffer A-1 told Kim the council member had held up his end of the deal and helped resolve the appeal.

In July 2017, the developer provided the remaining $100,000 of the agreed-upon $500,000 bribe to be paid to the council member for successfully resolving the appeal, according to prosecutors. Kim admitted he received the money from the developer, but kept it for himself.

Kim is scheduled to make a court appearance on March 31, when he is expected to plead guilty. He faces up to 10 years in prison, but in their plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to seek some leniency for Kim in exchange for his cooperation in the broader investigation.