A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a Chinese-owned real estate development company’s convictions for bribing disgraced former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar with more than $1.5 million in cash, gambling trips and escorts in exchange for the then-councilman’s support of a planned downtown hotel project.
The company, Shen Zhen New World I, was owned and operated by Chinese billionaire Wei Huang, who, for over four years, lavished extravagant Las Vegas hotel stays, gambling chips and prostitutes on Huizar. Shen Zhen sought to redevelop the L.A. Grand Hotel into Los Angeles’ tallest skyscraper, evidence showed.
Huang’s right-hand man confided to Huizar’s aide that Huang’s strategy was to “give, give, give” so that he could later make a “big ask” for Huizar’s support on the redevelopment project, according to trial testimony.
Former Councilman Jose Huizar (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News / SCNG)
Huizar was not only the council member of the district that encompassed the hotel but also a key figure on committees that oversaw all development in the city.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that sufficient evidence supports the company’s November 2022 convictions in Los Angeles federal court on three counts of honest service wire fraud, four counts of interstate and foreign travel in aid of bribery, and one count of bribery.
In May 2023, downtown Los Angeles-based Shen Zhen New World was sentenced to five years of probation and fined $4 million — the maximum penalty under the law.
The Pasadena appellate panel rejected Shen Zhen’s appeal, including an argument that the government’s failure to establish either an agreement between the parties or any official action by Huizar taints all of the counts against the company.
Although indicted along with his company, Huang never stood trial and remains a fugitive in China.
In 2010, Shen Zhen bought the L.A. Grand Hotel for $63 million. Huang hoped to transform the 13-story hotel into a 77-story mixed-use skyscraper that would constitute the tallest tower in Los Angeles.
Huizar was concurrently running a “pay-to-play” bribery scheme with Los Angeles developers. The then-councilmember’s office treated developers who provided Huizar with money and perks as “friends of the office,” leveraging his power to advance their projects, according to trial testimony. Huizar’s aide, George Esparza, testified that he tracked requests from “friends of the office” and relayed Huizar’s requests for benefits to developers.
Developers who failed to pay got “no play,” and Huizar “would essentially pay no attention to their project,” according to trial testimony.
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Along with other perks, Huang provided Huizar with $260,000 in gambling chips over the course of four years and 20 trips to Las Vegas, and assisted Huizar with a hush-money payment after a sexual-harassment lawsuit threatened Huizar’s 2015 reelection campaign.
Huizar, 55, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from downtown developers and cheating on his taxes, and was sentenced to a 13-year federal prison term. He was allowed to surrender to begin his prison term no later than Oct. 7.
Huizar’s co-defendant, former Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan — who was general manager of the Department of Building and Safety before becoming the city’s deputy mayor of economic development — was convicted at retrial of a dozen federal counts, including racketeering conspiracy, bribery, honest services fraud and other charges for helping Huizar in the bribery scheme.
Chan’s sentencing hearing is set for Oct. 4 in downtown Los Angeles.