An Inland Empire attorney targeted in the FBI raids last month in Southern California received sweetheart land deals from the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, even after falling nearly $40,000 behind in rent payments.
Records show that county supervisors gave Frank Lizarraga a lucrative extension on the sublease for El Prado Golf Course in Chino in 2025 — despite his repeated tardiness in making payments and failure to pay rent for 18 months on a separate county property.
The extension gave Lizarraga’s company control of the 36-hole golf course until 2047 and lowered the rent. Voting to support it was Lizarraga’s longtime associate, county Supervisor Curt Hagman. Hagman’s home and offices also were searched by federal authorities on July 28.
Search warrants additionally were served on Ontario Councilmember Alan Wapner and the owner of a Chinese-language media company in West Covina. Wapner and Hagman both sit on the Ontario International Airport Authority, which received a subpoena for contracts. Wapner serves as the Airport Authority’s president and Hagman is vice president.
Authorities have not said what they are looking for, but the investigation shares threads with an ongoing inquiry by the FBI into Chinese government influence on local politicians.
Criminal attorney Mary Carter Andrues, who is representing Lizarraga in the federal investigation, declined to comment.
A civil litigation attorney based in Ontario, Lizarraga is the former general counsel for the Southern California Association of Governments. He also served 13 years as an Ontario planning commissioner.
Golf course deal
The raids raise new questions about Lizarraga’s business dealings, especially those supported by Hagman.
The 314-acre golf course property is leased by the county from the Army Corps of Engineers and was subleased to Lizarraga’s partnership, El Prado Development LLC, in 2023.
According to county documents, the Board of Supervisors voted 4-1, with Supervisor Paul Cook dissenting, in February 2025 to negotiate solely with El Prado Development to extend the sublease by 22 years.
Two months later, the board extended the sublease without allowing other potential vendors to bid. The vote again was 4-1, with Cook saying “no.”
According to the extension, El Prado Development was required to complete an estimated $4.1 million in repairs and maintenance within two years and make at least $100,000 annually in improvements beginning in year four.
Besides extending the lease, the new agreement effectively lowered the rent for Lizarraga’s company. The county made $374,309 in the first year that Lizarraga’s company had control of the golf course under the previous lease. Under the new terms, it would make just $143,440 in the same time frame.
This arrangement was passed despite Lizarraga’s spotty track record in making the lease payments on time, which was not discussed at the board meeting.
Repeated late payments
A spreadsheet prepared by the county regional parks department shows Lizarraga’s company was late each month by more than a week in paying the rent on the golf course from July 2023 to July 2024. In one case, the May 2024 rent was not paid until July 2024.
Nevertheless, a handful of community and business leaders who spoke at the April 29, 2025, supervisors meeting overwhelmingly praised the job Lizarraga had done running the golf course and urged the extension be approved.
David Kooiman, CEO of a company trying to compete for the sublease, asked supervisors to reconsider the noncompetitive agreement with Lizarraga. Kooiman also argued that Hagman should recuse himself from the vote due to an alleged personal relationship with Lizarraga. Kooiman urged the county to prioritize transparency and put the lease out to bid.
“When something doesn’t feel right — we’re supposed to speak up,” Kooiman said during the meeting. “That phrase, ‘something smells,’ has come up again and again in our meetings with other supervisors.”
Hagman pushed back on Kooiman, responding that “we’re not here to do anything besides provide recreation activities on our parks for our residents and make sure (of) their upkeep.”
Supervisor Cook, the lone “no vote,” said during the meeting that “the longer I hear this argument I get more and more confused. I just want to make sure I get it straight. I’m probably the Lone Ranger, but I’m still very uncomfortable with it.”
Separate property in arrears
Before the golf course extension, Lizarraga and his Sultana Properties also were having trouble making the rent on 9 acres of county land in the Chino area reserved for livestock sales, grazing and agricultural equipment. The property is at 17450 Hellman Ave.
County supervisors unanimously approved the 10-year lease, with rent beginning at $1,230 a month, in February 2023. The rent would increase annually by 4% and generate $177,266 for the county.
But by late December 2024, Lizarraga had missed payments for 18 months of the first 22 months of the lease, making him $38,854 in arrears. That’s $22,443 in missed rent and $16,141 in late fees.
By contract, county supervisors could have nullified the lease or demanded the money immediately. Instead, they unanimously voted to let Lizarraga’s company pay the back rent in monthly installments over the next eight years and six months.
County spokesperson Jannelle Needham said the lease agreements for the farm property and the golf course are separate issues. Needham did not say whether Lizarraga’s payment history on the Sultana property was considered when the El Prado extension was approved, or whether officials viewed the two arrangements as potentially preferential treatment.
Partner sues
Lizarraga’s business practices also are called into question in a lawsuit against him filed in December by his partner in the golf course, Phyllis Shih.
Shih alleged that Lizarraga forged her signature on business documents filed with the state to muscle away control of the company, just as the golf course was financially thriving.
The partnership, El Prado Development, originally was co-owned 50-50 between Lizarraga and Shih, meaning both had to agree on financial decisions. According to the suit, Shih put up the initial $1 million for the company with the promise of more for improvements if mutually agreed upon. Lizarraga provided his professional services, such as managing the golf course.
In a 2025 letter to Shih, Lizarraga wrote: “You are … aware of the considerable and very substantial efforts that took place by myself to have the County approve of this sub-lease agreement extension.”
Shih alleges Lizarraga falsely altered the company’s operating agreement filed with the secretary of state to give him unilateral control with a 71% share of the firm. The suit said Lizarraga faulted Shih for not covering $709,499 in repairs to the parking lot and clubhouse. Shih said the repairs did not qualify as upgrades and could have been paid with the $2.3 million in revenue from the operation of the golf course.
Lizarraga paid for the repairs through the company’s general account and is seeking reimbursement from Shih, her lawsuit said. Lizarraga cited Shih’s nonpayment as a reason to lower her interest in the company and claimed that he advanced the money to the partnership.
“With the business successful and thriving, (Lizarraga) fraudulently took action — without justification and in bad faith — to force (Shih) out and capture for himself the very benefits the parties agreed to share,” said her lawsuit.