FBI agents served search warrants this week at multiple sites throughout Southern California, where businesses and homes tied to elected officials, an attorney in the Inland Empire, and a businessman in West Covina all were targets.
Federal officials have not commented on what they are searching for, only that the warrants are sealed. However, connections between some of San Bernardino County’s most influential elected leaders Supervisor Curt Hagman and Ontario Councilmember Alan Wapner, Inland attorney Frank Lizarraga, and Chinese-language media executive James Su, based in West Covina, have begun to come to light.
No one has been arrested in the sweeping searches, and none of the people targeted have commented publicly, but the operation suggests a federal probe that is looking at civic, political, business and cultural ties.
The raids come on the heels of federal probes over allegations tying local government officials to agents of the Chinese government.In May, for instance, former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang resigned from the City Council after federal authorities charged her with acting as an agent of the Chinese government.
Su, whose EDI Media Inc. in West Covina touts itself as among the largest Chinese-U.S. platforms in the country, has donated to Hagman’s campaigns through the years, among multiple donations to leaders in the area.
Campaign finance records show Su donated $3,500 to Hagman’s supervisorial campaign from September 2021 to March 2026. EDI Media donated $4,000 to the campaign from October 2017 to February 2022, according to records. The amounts are merely a fraction of what Hagman and other county supervisors typically raise during election cycles.
There’s no record of Su or EDI donating to Wapner’s campaign.
Lizarraga, too, has donated $1,000 to Hagman in March 2022, filings show. Records also indicate Hagman’s campaign paid Lizarraga roughly $2,700 for office expenses that same year.
In all cases, each of the men targeted by the FBI probe have planted considerable roots in the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley — roots that range from entertainment to politics.
Some of those roots involve passionate support of the Ontario International Airport.
But who are these four men, and what has drawn the agents to them? Here’s a closer look at each of them.
Fixture in San Bernardino County politics
Curt Hagman, the San Bernardino County Supervisor and Ontario International Airport Authority commissioner, has a long history in San Bernardino County politics.
When reached by this news organization Friday, Hagman decline to comment, following the FBI raids.
He got his start as an elected official serving as a Chino Hills Parks and Recreation commissioner from 2000 to 2004. Hagman spent one term on the Chino Hills City Council, starting in 2004, including a year as mayor in 2008.
From there, it was on to Sacramento. Hagman spent six years in the Assembly, from 2008 to 2014, including serving as Assembly Republican Leader, before leaving office due to term limits.
Back in San Bernardino County, Hagman was elected to represent the Fourth District on the Board of Supervisors in 2014, including two one-year terms as the board’s chairman. He replaced former Supervisor Gary Ovitt. The Fourth District covers the west end of San Bernardino County including Chino, Chino Hills, Montclair, Ontario and Upland.
- Also see: Lancaster mayor says Southern California FBI raids likely looking for Chinese influence schemes
Hagman has long been a cheerleader for the Ontario airport.
Los Angeles handed control over the airport to the Ontario International Airport Authority in 2016. Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti presented a ceremonial key to the airport to Ontario International Airport Authority President Alan Wapner, whose house was also raided by the FBI on Tuesday.
In his capacity as Ontario International Airport Authority commissioner and San Bernardino County supervisor, Hagman has flown to China at least twice — in 2016 and 2017 — to drum up business for ONT.
“We immediately went to work in negotiating with the top airlines for this project, and had some very substantial discussions with the related investment entities and construction of the air terminal project and the auxiliary development with the terminal project,” Hagman wrote in a 2016 letter to Jinjiang Yu, president of the Beijing Yunjiang Management and Consulting Services Co.
Bringing in more flights from Asia, Europe, New Zealand and South America was a key priority for the airport commission after the airport returned to local control.
China Airlines began non-stop flights to Ontario in 2018.
Hagman had reportedly previously visited China as a member of the Assembly.
In 2011, he advised developer Jeff Burum, former San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane and Ovitt’s former chief of staff Mark Kirk — three of the four defendants in the Colonies real estate corruption case — on bond-related manners. All three men were found not guilty of all charges.
Attorney, commissioner does ‘great job’
Civil litigation attorney Frank Lizarraga is the former general counsel for the Southern California Association of Governments. He also served 13 years as an Ontario planning commissioner.
Lizarraga, whose home and business office were also targets of the FBI this week could not be reached for comment for this story.
Lizarraga received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of La Verne in 1980 before getting a law degree from Western State College of Law.
He later served on the board of trustees at the University of La Verne, chaired the university’s College of Law’s board of advisers and in 2020, endowed the dean of the university’s college of law.
“I am so proud of how well the college’s graduates are serving their local communities, and with this gift, I want to inspire my fellow established lawyers to support the college’s mission,” Lizarraga said at the time.
Lizarraga served 13 years in two separate stints on the Ontario Planning Commission, leaving in 2010. He also served as chairman of the board.
Wapner also praised Lizarraga at the 2010 council meeting where his successor was appointed.
“You did a great job, and you do a lot for the community that people aren’t aware of,” Wapner said in July 2010.
A homegrown media company
To “preserve Chinese American Heritage” and to “enhance Peace and Harmony” — they are words that dance across the home page of EDI Media Inc.’s website, sharing the mission of the West Covina media company James Su has build over the last 30 years.
The company and its various media outlets, in print, TV, radio and online, are the culmination of the 56-year-old businessman’s work. The firm touts itself as one of the largest Chinese-media platforms in the U.S.
Su’s profile appears highest in the San Gabriel Valley, where he moved in 1989, and where EDI Media Inc. has sponsored events such as festivals and concerts for years.
The Shanghai-born Su associated with many leaders from cities with sizable Asian American communities.
One of EDI Media’s biggest events was the annual Chinese American Film Festival based in Los Angeles, with an expressed mission to promote exchange between U.S. and Chinese film industries.
The festival is sponsored by the Information Office of the State Council of China, the China Film Administration, the State Administration of Radio and Television of China, the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Los Angeles, and Los Angeles County, according to its website.
The 21st festival was held in 2025 and featured Hollywood senior film executives, Chinese American elected officials, and Chinese government officials.
A 2015 Reuters investigation into Su’s radio network alleged hidden financial backing by a subsidiary of the Chinese government. It pegged Su’s ownership of real estate and radio stations at more than $15 million, according to its analysis of U.S. corporate, property, tax and FCC records. The FCC and Justice Department’s subsequent investigation did not result in criminal prosecution. Su’s firm had to register as a foreign agent in 2022.
In his hometown of West Covina, Su and EDI Media Inc. pushed a philanthropic mission.
He stepped up to donate PPE and food to West Covina during the pandemic, according to Councilmember Tony Wu, who was then mayor.
In 2017, Su and his wife Slina Lam were on hand at a West Covina City Council meeting to donate $5,000 each to the West Covina Unified School District and Covina Valley Unified School District.
The company’s YouTube channel streamed a 2018 video on EDI Media Inc. that included photos of Su with then-Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and numerous certificates of recognition from local state and congressional politicians given to Su and the Chinese American Film Festival.
That scroll included recognitions from Hagman among an array of other local elected officials.
Su’s attorney on Wednesday defended his client, adding that the FBI has given neither he nor his client any information as to why the department decided to search his home and business.
Strong airport connections
Go inside Ontario International Airport and you’ll likely hear Alan Wapner’s recorded voice over the public address system greeting passengers.
The airport has strong ties to the longtime Ontario City Council member, who is president of the Ontario International Airport Authority.
Wapner, 70, on Thursday, July 30, shared a photo on his campaign social media accounts with several ftoyotaendorsements, including one from “police and firefighters,” showing a photo of Wapner with friends, local pastor Michael Lopez and his wife, Mona.
“I am grateful for their confidence in my vision for Ontario’s future, and I look forward to continuing our work together to make our city an even better place to live, work, and raise a family,” the post states.
Besides being a key figure in wresting control of the airport from the city of Los Angeles, Wapner takes credit for bringing the Toyota Arena and minor league baseball to Ontario, his home since 1978.
Wapner served in the Ontario Police Department before retiring as a sergeant. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and government/public relations from the University of Southern California and a law degree from Whittier Law School, according to his LinkedIn profile.
After a stint on the Ontario-Montclair School District board, Wapner, a married father of five and grandfather of seven, was first elected to the Ontario City Council in 1994.
He was a prominent voice in the effort to gain local control over the airport, which many Inland Empire leaders argued was neglected by Los Angeles. In 2016, L.A. transferred the airport to the Ontario International Airport Authority, a local public agency. Wapner serves as president, while Hagman is vice president.
Since then, the Ontario airport has flourished as a mid-sized alternative to LAX.
Wapner is running for Ontario mayor on the November ballot.
On his campaign website, he wrote that he “is proud to have envisioned and brought to fruition Toyota Arena,” a multi-purpose stadium that’s home to the Ontario Reign minor league hockey team and has hosted Metallica, Justin Bieber and other high-profile acts.
In 2010, Wapner, a registered Republican elected to a nonpartisan office, convinced his fellow councilmembers to put the words “In God We Trust” on Ontario’s official logo.
“It was not difficult for me to bring this to the council; I knew they support God,” he said at the time.
Staff writers Allyson Vergara and Ellen Wang contributed to this report.