The Los Angeles Ethics Commission has charged real estate developer Samuel Leung with committing 444 violations of the city's campaign finance laws, including those prohibiting campaign money laundering.
The agency, in a filing released Friday, said it had determined that “probable cause exists” to believe that between 2009 and 2015, Leung reimbursed campaign donors in violation of city law and exceeded city limits for political contributions.
Leung was at the center of a 2016 Times investigation that revealed that a sprawling network of individuals and companies linked to him had made political donations totaling more than $600,000 as city leaders reviewed his proposed 352-unit apartment project, then known as Sea Breeze.
When Times reporters contacted those donors, some denied making the contributions or said they had no recollection of making them.
The Times reported that the “pattern of donations from unlikely sources, some of whom claim to have no knowledge of contributions made in their names, suggests an effort to skirt campaign finance laws designed to make political donations transparent to the public.”
Sea Breeze, located in Los Angeles' Harbor Gateway neighborhood, was approved by the City Council in 2015. It opened several years ago under the new name Seacrest.
The Times’ coverage prompted investigations by both the Ethics Commission and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which filed a complaint against Leung. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit campaign money laundering. He was sentenced to five years’ probation and 500 hours of community service.
At the time, Leung also agreed to pay a yet-to-be-determined amount in restitution to the city.
In the filing released Friday, Ethics Commission officials said their investigation began with the network of contributors identified by The Times and expanded to include other political donors.
The commission said it had found “ample evidence” that at least 66 donors had made contributions that “were directly or indirectly reimbursed, or paid directly” by Leung. More than 400 contributions to political committees set up by or for local politicians were attributed to those donors, according to the dossier released on Friday.
Los Angeles prohibits donors from making contributions under “fictitious names” — donations attributed to one person but actually funded by another. That law is designed to prevent taxpayers from skirting the city’s limits on political donations. It also makes clear the true source of political contributions.
The filing with the Ethics Commission alleges that Leung “reimbursed or caused to be reimbursed” more than 400 contributions to political committees (both campaign and official accounts) that exceeded contribution limits by a total of more than $210,000.
“The evidence shows that… Leung directly solicited and reimbursed contributions from his family, from certain individuals who worked for him, and from family members of individuals who worked for him,” the commission said in its 148-page filing, which details the donations in depth.
A lawyer for Leung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Leung was also involved in reimbursing eight contributions totaling $80,000 to an independent expenditure committee that had no limit on the size of each donation it received, according to the indictment.
In the coming weeks, the five-member Ethics Commission will select an administrative hearing officer. The commissioners will then determine whether the alleged violations occurred and, if so, what Leung's penalty should be.
According to the commission, the maximum fine is $5,000 per violation or three times the amount of money improperly contributed or reported, whichever is greater.
