Former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar began serving his 13-year prison sentence Monday for his role in a variety of corruption and bribery schemes that shattered public trust in City Hall.
Huizar was sentenced in January and ordered to surrender in April, but was given permission to delay the start of his prison sentence due to medical issues, according to court documents.
On Monday, he turned himself in to the Bureau of Prisons and is in custody at Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution II, a low-security prison for male inmates in Santa Barbara County, according to a report from the Boyle Heights Beat. His lawyer declined to comment.
Last year, Huizar pleaded guilty to felony extortion and tax evasion charges. In addition to the prison sentence, he was ordered to pay almost $444,000 in restitution to the city of Los Angeles and almost $39,000 to the IRS.
U.S. District Judge John F. Walter, who handed down the sentence, said the 13 years were necessary to “build respect” for the country's anti-corruption laws, as well as to recognize the extreme harm the former council member had caused to their voters, for the city and for democracy itself.
Huizar orchestrated a pay-for-play scheme in which lucrative opportunities in his downtown Los Angeles district were awarded to real estate developers in exchange for generous gifts and bribes.
Prosecutors alleged that during his tenure he obtained $1.5 million in cash bribes, gambling chips, luxury hotel stays, political contributions, prostitute services, expensive meals and other financial benefits from developers.
“If anyone dared to refuse his call to pay bribes, he punished them and their city's projects, threatening the developers with indefinitely delayed projects and financial dangers,” according to the US Attorney's Office.
Former Los Angeles Vice Mayor Raymond Chan was a co-defendant in the federal corruption case and a key player in Huizar's bribery scheme. On Friday, a federal judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison and ordered him to pay $752,457 in restitution to the city of Los Angeles.
Prosecutors alleged he accepted more than $750,000 in bribes for himself and facilitated more than $1 million in bribes to Huizar from real estate developers.
In March, a jury found Chan guilty of a dozen charges, including racketeering conspiracy, bribery, honest services fraud and making false statements to investigators.
Although Chan's lawyers argued that he should face a lighter sentence than Huizar, prosecutors argued that he took enormous responsibility for his corruption scheme and should be punished accordingly.
For example, prosecutors alleged that he obtained a $600,000 bribe from a real estate developer (the largest in his entire pay-to-play scheme) that Huizar used to secretly settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former employee.
Chan is scheduled to begin his prison sentence on January 6.
City News Service contributed to this report.
