On one occasion<\/a>, they were spotted in a VIP room at the Palazzo, where staff noticed Huizar playing with, and ultimately cashing out, tens of thousands of dollars in chips that had been purchased by Wei. Staff flagged this as suspicious, especially because they recognized Huizar as an L.A. city councilman.<\/p>\nAnti-money laundering directives urge casinos to pay extra scrutiny to politicians, also known as\u00a0 \u201cpolitically exposed persons\u201d (PEPs). That\u2019s because they present greater risk of potential involvement in bribery or corruption, and therefore money laundering.<\/p>\n
According to court documents, staff asked Huizar to sign a document confirming he had an \u201cindependent source of wealth sufficient to demonstrate that he was gambling with his own money.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he refused, they called the FBI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A federal judge in California has denied a motion by lawyers for disgraced Los Angeles city councilman Jose Huizar. They sought to have government evidence suppressed from his ongoing corruption trial. Government prosecutors believe the evidence in question \u2013 a cache of Huizar\u2019s emails and other documents \u2013 will show the former councilman went on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":200071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
L.A. Councilman Jose Huizar Can\u2019t Suppress Casino Kickback Evidence<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n