The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday authorized outside counsel for the Ethics Commission in litigation waged by Councilman John Lee, who is challenging a decision by the body that found he violated the city’s ethics rules.
In a 10-0 vote, the council instructed the city administrative officer to enter into a contract with Heckner Fink LLP for advice and legal representation to the Ethics Commission. Funding for the outside counsel will cost an initial $120,000 payable within 60 days of receiving a bill, and anything in excess of that will require additional financing.
Lee recused himself from the vote, and his colleagues Adrin Nazarian, Traci Park, Monica Rodriguez and Katy Yaroslavsky were absent during the vote. No discussion was held on the matter.
Lee sued the Ethics Commission in 2023 weeks after they accused the councilman of violating city ethics laws. The case stemmed from a 2017 trip to Las Vegas with then-Councilman Mitchell Englander.
Lee sought a court order to block the commission’s enforcement proceedings, saying the issues had exceeded a four-year statute of limitations.
A judge approved a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, finding that Lee had not yet used all his administrative options, meaning he didn’t wait until the commission’s proceedings played out.
In December 2025, the commission sustained all 10 counts of ethics violations and imposed a penalty of $138,124 against Lee, who allegedly accepted lavish gifts and misused his position in 2016 and 2017 during the trip to Las Vegas and at various Los Angeles restaurants when he was chief of staff to Englander.
In a 3-1 vote, the commission voted to uphold a decision made by Administrative Law Judge Ji-Lan Zang, who determined Lee violated the city’s ethics rules pertaining to the dollar amount of gifts a city official can receive and disclosing such gifts through what is known as a Statement of Economic Interests, or Form 700.
Commissioner Aryeh Cohen voted against the final outcome while member Terry Kaufmann was absent during the vote.
Commissioners, however, did not agree with Zang’s dismissal of additional counts against Lee regarding misuse of his position and for assisting Englander in misusing his position — ultimately adding those violations to the list.
In a separate 4-0 vote, commissioners agreed to impose a maximum penalty of $138,124 for all 10 counts as recommended by city investigators rather than Zang’s suggestion of $43,730 for the first five counts.
Lee denied the allegations in a statement and alluded to appealing the decision in court. The councilman described the process as “wasteful” and “political.”
“The Commission rubber-stamped a biased investigation and blatantly ignored all relevant facts, including that the FBI never charged me for backdating any checks or aiding Mitchell Englander’s 2017 illegal activities,” Lee said.
“I have cooperated with this process at every step. I voluntarily turned over every document asked of me, cooperated with both federal and commission investigators, and testified numerous times on this matter under oath. The only thing I’m guilty of is being honest and transparent in the face of an utterly dishonest process.”
The councilman concluded that he would not be “bullied into settling or admitting to something I didn’t do. I’ll continue standing up for the truth and the people of Council District 12.”
Lee faced two counts for allegedly accepting gifts that exceeded a limit, three counts for allegedly failing to disclose those gifts, four counts for allegedly misusing his position and one count for allegedly helping Englander misuse his position.
“Our determination is made based on the facts of this case,” Ethics Commission President Manjusha Kulkarni said. “It’s made based on our understanding of the law as it’s been presented by both sides. We do not pass judgment whether individuals are good people or bad people. We make determinations based on the facts of whether actions were taken and whether those actions, based on the laws, policies and regulations violated, what was stated in our statute, regulations, etc.”
Lee represents the 12th Council District, encompassing the northwest San Fernando Valley.
The alleged violations were related to lunches, dinners, a Vegas trip and other gifts connected to Englander. In 2020, Englander pleaded guilty to scheming to obstruct a federal investigation into the 2017 Vegas trip, and his acceptance of $15,000 in cash and gifts from businessman Andy Wang. He was sentenced to 14 months in prison.
Lee was not charged by federal prosecutors nor named during Englander’s federal indictment, but he was referred to as “City Staffer B.”