Former LA City Councilman José Huizar began serving his 13-year sentence Monday for his role in a series of corruption and bribery schemes that broke public faith in City Hall.
Huizar was sentenced in January and ordered to surrender in April but received permission to delay his start in prison due to health issues, according to court documents.
On Monday, he turned himself in to the Bureau of Prisons and is being held at the Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc II, a minimum-security prison for male inmates in Santa Barbara County, according to a Boyle Heights Beat report. His attorney declined to comment.
Last year, Huizar pleaded guilty to fraud 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.
US District Judge John F. Walter, who handed down the sentence, said the 13 years were needed to “comply” with the nation’s anti-corruption laws and acknowledge the great harm the former council member caused his members. the city and democracy itself.
Huizar orchestrated a pay-to-play scheme where lucrative opportunities in his Los Angeles neighborhood were offered to real estate developers in exchange for lavish gifts and bribes.
Prosecutors allege that during his tenure he received $1.5 million in bribes, gambling chips, luxury hotel stays, political donations, prostitution jobs, expensive meals and other financial benefits from developers.
“If anyone dared refuse his offer to pay a bribe, he would punish them and their city jobs, threatening developers with forever delayed projects and financial jeopardy,” according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Former Los Angeles Vice Mayor Raymond Chan was a co-defendant in the federal corruption case and a key player in Huizar’s bribery scheme. On Friday, a judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison and ordered him to pay $752,457 in restitution to the city of LA.
Prosecutors allege he accepted more than $750,000 in kickbacks and arranged for Huizar to take more than a million dollars in bribes from real estate developers.
In March, a jury found Chan guilty of 12 counts, including conspiracy to defraud, bribery, fraud in fiduciary duties and giving false statements to investigators.
Although Chan’s lawyers argued that he should face a lighter sentence than Huizar, prosecutors said he bore the brunt of their corruption scheme and should be punished accordingly.
For example, prosecutors allege that he received a $600,000 bribe from a real estate developer — the largest in their pay-to-play scheme — that Huizar used to secretly settle a former employee’s sexual harassment case.
Chan is scheduled to begin his prison sentence on Jan. 6.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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