Law enforcement says Huizar tried to clean some of the dirty money through Las Vegas casinos. But casinos are some of the most surveilled commercial businesses in the entire world. And that’s why Huizar’s attempts to allegedly clean his ill-gotten cash through Strip cages was a most irrational move.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Federal officials obtained video footage of Huizar making at least eight trips to Las Vegas between 2014 and 2016. Wei was often by his side. Prosecutors say surveillance video shows Wei repeatedly purchasing large sums of gaming chips, and then Huizar later redeeming the tokens for cash.<\/p>\n
Huizar’s trial is set to begin on February 21, 2023. He’s facing dozens of federal criminal charges and potentially decades behind bars.<\/p>\n
Huizar’s righthand man, Justin Kim, was accused of being a middleman in the Lee-Huizar bribery scheme. Kim, a Huizar fundraiser and Los Angeles political insider, pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge in June of 2020 and is cooperating with the ongoing cases.<\/p>\n
George Esparza, who was Huizar’s personal assistant, admitted guilt the month after Kim did. Esparza testified that he assisted in two “money drops” from Lee.<\/p>\n
Lee’s attorney Ariel Neuman countered that his client was simply a victim of a “demonstrated liar.”<\/p>\n
\nHe’s [Lee] a businessman who trusted the wrong person — the worst kind of person,”<\/strong> Neuman argued.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nBut the jury determined otherwise. Taped audio recordings authorized via a wiretap warrant exposed that Lee was indeed in on the bribery scheme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Los Angeles real estate developer Dae Yong Lee, more commonly known in Southern California as David Lee, has been found guilty of bribing a city official. A jury yesterday concluded that Lee knowingly bribed former Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar in August 2016. The US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California alleged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":219172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,81886],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Los Angeles Man Guilty of Bribing City Councilman with Casino Chips<\/title>\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