A Mexican immigrant with more than a decade of service on the Los Angeles City Council agreed Thursday to plead guilty to tax evasion and racketeering charges, admitting, after months of denials, he had accepted $1.5 million in bribes from real estate developers.
Former Councilman Jose Huizar said he was “pleading guilty because I am guilty of the charges.”
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The 54-year-old had been denying the allegations but changed his tune after two developers were convicted of bribing him at two consecutive trials, and others linked to the grift also pleaded guilty to felony charges.
Prosecutors had a mountain of evidence against Huizar, including recorded conversations that implicated him in a money laundering and bribery scheme.
Three of Huizar’s family members — his wife, mother, and brother — testified in November at the trial of the development company Shen Zhen New World I that Huizar had acted suspiciously at times.
Huizar would give stacks of $100 bills to his family members, and they would, in turn, write him checks or pay his bills.
Salvador Huizar said he asked his older brother why he needed the checks and was told that it was “better for me not to know.”
Shen Zhen New World I was convicted in November of paying Huizar more than $1 million for his support of a proposed skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles. In June, a federal jury found developer Dae Yong Lee guilty of paying Huizar $500,000 in cash.
Huizar had been a celebrated councilman and heralded as an example of someone who overcame tremendous odds. Born into poverty in Mexico, Huizar grew up in Boyle Heights, a neighborhood in east LA, and earned his master’s degree from Princeton and his law degree from UCLA before spending 15 years as an LA city councilman.
Prosecutors claim that Huizar leveraged his position on the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee, which reviews large-scale real estate development proposals, to pocket the cash.
Council President Paul Krekorian called Huizar’s actions “an indefensible betrayal of the public trust.”
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Prosecutors have agreed to recommend a sentence no longer than 13 years, while Huizar agreed not to ask for anything less than nine years, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A sentencing date has not been scheduled.
