{"id":162532,"date":"2021-01-26T14:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T22:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=162532"},"modified":"2021-01-26T14:53:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T22:53:17","slug":"ex-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-sentenced-in-vegas-bribery-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-sentenced-in-vegas-bribery-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitch Englander, Former LA City Councilman, Sentenced in Las Vegas Bribery Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Los Angeles City Councilman was sentenced to 14 months in prison on Monday. Mitch Englander was convicted for\u00a0accepting cash bribes, escort services, hotel rooms, and meals at casinos in Las Vegas and Palm Springs,\u00a0 then lying about them to the FBI.<\/p>\n

\"Mitch
Mitch Englander was handed a custodial sentence to “restore public confidence in city government.” (Image: Al Seib: LA Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

US District Judge John F. Walter said Mitch Englander, 50, had \u201ctotally lost his moral compass.\u201d He also fined him $15,000, the same amount the defendant accepted in cash kickbacks from an unnamed businessman during a wild night in Las Vegas in June 2017.<\/p>\n

The businessman hoped Englander would introduce him to contacts who might be interested in mobile technology he had developed to remotely adjust household electronics. Later, he became a government informant and made incriminating recordings of his conversations with Englander.<\/p>\n

When Englander learned of the FBI investigation, he contacted the businessman and tried to pay back some of the money. He even issued a backdated check to make it look like it had been paid earlier.<\/p>\n

As part of his plea deal, Englander admitted lying about his actions to prosecutors and FBI agents during three subsequent interviews in 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n

Walter said that a custodial sentence had been necessary to \u201crestor[e] public confidence in our local government at a time when many people are questioning it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Englander\u2019s transgressions were uncovered inadvertently by agents investigating a wider \u201cpay to play\u201d corruption scheme allegedly masterminded by another LA City councilman, Jose Huizar.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Huizar Scandal<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Huizar and others are accused of accepting bribes from property developers in return for favorable treatment on downtown real-estate development projects.<\/p>\n

That investigation was triggered in 2015 when authorities in Las Vegas noticed Huizar cashing out large amounts of money in casino chips belonging to Chinese billionaire property developer and high roller Wei Huang.<\/a><\/p>\n

Wei is chairman of the Shenzhen New World Group, which wanted to redevelop the LA Grand Hotel Downtown into a new 77-story hotel tower, the tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi.<\/p>\n

But he needed Huizar to greenlight the project. He is accused of showering more than $800,000 on Huizar and others during numerous trips to Las Vegas casinos. Both men face bribery and racketeering charges.<\/p>\n

Also awaiting trial is Huizar\u2019s former special assistant, George Esparza, who is also accused of receiving kickbacks from the unnamed businessman in the Englander case. FBI agents launched their investigation into Englander, a former Huizar aide, after they heard Huizar and Esparza discussing the offering of prostitutes to Englander and Esparza in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Los Angeles City Councilman was sentenced to 14 months in prison on Monday. Mitch Englander was convicted for\u00a0accepting cash bribes, escort services, hotel rooms, and meals at casinos in Las Vegas and Palm Springs,\u00a0 then lying about them to the FBI. US District Judge John F. Walter said Mitch Englander, 50, had \u201ctotally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":162536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEx-LA City Councilman Mitch Englander Sentenced in Vegas Bribery Case<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mitchell Englander, former Los Angeles City councilman, sentenced to 14 months in prison for accepting bribes and lying to the FBI.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-sentenced-in-vegas-bribery-case\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-LA City Councilman Mitch Englander Sentenced in Vegas Bribery Case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mitchell Englander, former Los Angeles City councilman, sentenced to 14 months in prison for accepting bribes and lying to the FBI.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-sentenced-in-vegas-bribery-case\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-26T22:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-26T22:53:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/MITCH2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"674\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-sentenced-in-vegas-bribery-case\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-sentenced-in-vegas-bribery-case\/\",\"name\":\"Ex-LA City Councilman Mitch Englander Sentenced in Vegas Bribery Case\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-sentenced-in-vegas-bribery-case\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-sentenced-in-vegas-bribery-case\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/MITCH2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-26T22:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-26T22:53:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Mitchell Englander, former Los Angeles City councilman, sentenced to 14 months in prison for accepting bribes and lying to the FBI.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-sentenced-in-vegas-bribery-case\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-sentenced-in-vegas-bribery-case\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-la-city-councilman-mitch-englander-sentenced-in-vegas-bribery-case\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/MITCH2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/MITCH2.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":674,\"caption\":\"Mitch Englander was handed a custodial sentence to restore public confidence in City government. 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