Los Angeles City Councilman John Lee repeatedly violated the city’s gift laws in 2016 and 2017, accepting freebies during lavish trips to Las Vegas and at multiple Los Angeles restaurants, a judge said.
In a 59-page proposed decision, Administrative Law Judge Jiran Zhang concluded that Mr. Lee committed two counts of violating laws governing the amount of gifts that city employees can accept and three counts of violating laws requiring disclosure of gifts.
Zhang recommended a $43,730 fine for Lee, who represents the northwest San Fernando Valley and was chief of staff to then-Councilman Mitchell Englander at the time of the alleged gift violation. But the judge disagreed with the city ethics examiner’s argument that Mr. Lee abused his position or helped Mr. Englander abuse his position.
In 2020, federal prosecutors accused Englander of lying to FBI agents and accepting $15,000 in cash from businessman Andy Wang for a 2017 trip to Las Vegas. Englander was eventually indicted on a single charge of providing false information to the FBI and sent to prison.
The five-member Los Angeles Ethics Commission is expected to make its decision on Wednesday, determining both the number of violations Mr. Lee committed and the monetary penalty he will face.
The committee has the power to accept or reject Zang’s recommendations. Ethics investigators recommended that the commission take a more punitive approach, fining Lee approximately $138,000 and holding him accountable for all 10 charges.
The Lee case revolves around gifts (primarily food and booze, but also hotel accommodations, transportation, and $1,000 in gambling chips) provided by three men who attempted to do business with City Hall. architect and developer Chris Pak; and lobbyist Michael Bye.
The judge released her report six months after the accusations were made against Mr Lee, who was a member of the council in 2019.
During these proceedings, Mr. Lee denied receiving any gifts improperly and stated that he made good faith efforts to pay for himself and, in some cases, refused food during meals. For example, he testified that he had no recollection of eating during meetings at Ixta Cocina Mexicana and Water Grill in downtown Los Angeles.
Zang said in his report that Lee’s denials were “not credible” and that his testimony was “evasive and self-contradictory.” He said Lee’s testimony also contradicted information he provided to the FBI during the investigation into Englander and testimony from other witnesses.
“It’s incredible to believe that (Lee) would eat lunch at Eusta and dinner at Water Grill with Englander, Bye, and One without eating during the meal,” she wrote.
Ethics investigators accused Lee of accepting various gifts during a 2017 trip to Las Vegas with England and several others. The city claims Lee and a group of friends stayed at the Aria Hotel and spent the night at Hakkasan Nightclub.
At the hotel’s Blossom restaurant, Wang ordered a nearly $2,500 dinner for a group that included Mr. Englander, Mr. Lee and several others, serving shark fin soup, Peking duck and Kobe beef, according to the judge’s summary of the case.
Lee testified that he arrived at the restaurant in time to eat the bird’s nest soup dessert, tasted it and decided he didn’t like it, the judge said in the filing.
Later that night in Hakkasan, Mr. Wang purchased three bottle services for the group at approximately $8,000 each, while Mr. Park paid for a fourth bottle service at $8,418.75.
“Each round of bottle service was lavish as a female VIP hostess brought bottles of alcohol to the table with flashing lights,” the judge wrote.
At least 20 other club patrons went to Mr. Wang’s booth that night and drank alcohol at his table, according to the judge’s filing.
Mr. Lee was never charged by federal prosecutors and has said he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing by Mr. Englander. In a submission filed last week, his attorney said investigators miscalculated the value of the gifts, which included alcohol bottles whose contents were distributed to many people.
Lawyers said Mr. Lee gave Mr. Wang $300 in cash for drinks and withdrew cash from an ATM in Las Vegas.
Lee’s attorneys argued in their response to the city that the statute of limitations has run on the city’s ethics lawsuit. They also rejected a recommendation from the city’s ethics examiner that Lee pay a $138,000 fine.
“Such inflated numbers are baseless, unsubstantiated in the record, unsupported by applicable law, and do not sit within a fair and impartial enforcement system,” they wrote in their filing.
Mr. Englander previously paid $79,830 to settle a similar Ethics Commission lawsuit over gifts he had received.
Ethics investigators charged Lee with 10 counts of violating city code. The charges include two counts of receiving gifts in excess of the legal limit, three counts of failing to report those gifts in public documents, four counts of abuse of position, and one count of aiding and abetting Mr Englander’s abuse of position.
In 2016, the legal limit for gifts to city employees was $460 per donor. The following year, it was $470.
In Englander’s 2020 federal indictment, Lee was referred to as 2024 He, not by name, despite legal issues.
