In Smoke Screen: The Sellout, L.A. TACO and Neon Hum’s lauded 9-part investigative podcast, journalist and host Mariah Castañeda charted the meteoric ascent and shameful fall of purportedly crooked City Councilman José Huizar, who is suspected of turning his position into a racket, taking six-figure payoffs from developers of luxury buildings at the peak of downtown development, at the same time that gentrification was ravaging his constituents and former neighbors.
Yesterday, one of Huizar’s corrupt benefactors, the first defendant in a total of three federal trials centered on his criminal malfeasance, was declared guilty by a jury in Downtown Los Angeles. DTLA developer and real estate investor Dae Yong Lee aka David Lee, and his company, 940 Hill LLC, were both found culpable on charges of bribery, obstructing a government investigation, and honest services fraud. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison upon sentencing, while this initial guilty verdict provides some possible foreshadowing for Huizar’s own upcoming trial, which is set to take place in 2023.
According to Courthouse News, Lee wanted to replace a one-story building with a $120 million+, 20-story mixed-use apartment-and-retail development. But he had one major obstacle in the form of an appeal from the Coalition of Responsible Equitable Economic Development (CREED LA), an organization that works to get union labor hired for large construction projects.
The government’s case claims that Huizar and his accomplices allegedly wanted a $1.2 million bribe to get involved in resolving the appeal and supporting Lee’s project, using intermediaries within Huizar’s political network to negotiate the payment.