For 15 years, José Huizar was an L.A. power broker. Today, he went behind bars
Former L.A. City Councilmember José Huizar began serving his 13-year prison sentence on Monday for his role in a motley array of corruption and bribery schemes that shattered public faith in City Hall.
Huizar was sentenced in January and ordered to surrender in April but received permission to delay the start of his prison term on account of medical concerns, according to court filings.
On Monday, he surrendered to the Bureau of Prisons and is in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc II, a low-security prison for male inmates in Santa Barbara County, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. His attorney declined to comment.
Last year, Huizar pleaded guilty to felony charges of racketeering and tax evasion. In addition to the prison sentence, he was ordered to pay nearly $444,000 in restitution to the city of Los Angeles and nearly $39,000 to the IRS.
The judge said a substantial prison sentence would recognize the harm done by the former councilmember to his constituents, the city and democracy itself.
U.S. District Judge John F. Walter, who delivered the sentence, said the 13 years were necessary to “engender respect” for the nation’s anti-corruption laws as well as to acknowledge the extreme harm the former council member had caused to his constituents, to the city and to democracy itself.
Huizar orchestrated a pay-to-play scheme in which lucrative opportunities in his downtown Los Angeles district were granted to real estate developers in return for lavish gifts and bribes.
Prosecutors alleged that during his time in power he secured $1.5 million in cash bribes, gambling chips, luxury hotel stays, political contributions, prostitute services, expensive meals and other financial benefits from developers.
“If anyone dared rebuff his call to pay bribes, he punished them and their city projects, threatening developers with indefinitely delayed projects and financial peril,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan was a co-defendant in the federal corruption case and a key player in Huizar’s bribery scheme. On Friday, a federal judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison and ordered him to pay $752,457 in restitution to the city of L.A.
Prosecutors alleged that he accepted more than $750,000 in bribe money for himself and facilitated more than a million dollars in bribes to Huizar from property developers.
In March, a jury found Chan guilty on a dozen counts, including racketeering conspiracy, bribery, honest services fraud and giving false statements to investigators.
Although Chan’s attorneys argued that he should face a lighter sentence than Huizar, prosecutors alleged he shouldered a huge amount of responsibility in their corruption scheme and should be punished accordingly.
For example, prosecutors alleged that he secured a $600,000 bribe from a real estate developer — the single largest in their entire pay-to-play scheme — that Huizar used to secretly settle a sexual harassment lawsuit from a former staffer.
Chan is scheduled to begin his prison sentence on Jan. 6.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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