LOS ANGELES
An FBI investigation into Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar is part of a broader corruption inquiry in which agents are seeking possible evidence involving Councilman Curren Price, a senior aide to Council President Herb Wesson, and several other city officials and business figures, according to a federal search warrant.
The warrant, which was filed in federal court in November but reviewed by the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, said agents were seeking evidence related to an investigation into an array of potential crimes, including bribery, kickbacks, extortion, and money laundering involving 13 people.
Agents served the warrant on Google in July for information from a private email account for Ray Chan, the former head of the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety for Mayor Eric Garcetti, according to the warrant. Chan also served as a deputy mayor for economic development under Garcetti.
Along with Chan and Huizar, those named in the warrant included Price, who represents part of South L.A.; Deron Williams, chief of staff to Wesson; Joel Jacinto, a member of the city's Board of Public Works; and other City Hall aides who have worked for Huizar.
The warrant does not say the FBI has gathered evidence of criminal activity by any of the people named in the document, and there were no records attached to the warrant saying what evidence, if any, was discovered in Chan's email account.
No one has been arrested or charged in connection with the investigation. But the court documents lay out a more expansive FBI investigation into City Hall than had so far been revealed.
Price said Saturday that he does not know anything about the warrant. He also said he had not been contacted by the FBI.
Jacinto told The Times he was unaware he had been mentioned in a federal search warrant. He said neither he nor his wife, who is also named in the warrant, had been contacted by investigators or received subpoenas seeking records or testimony.
"I don't know what it's about, so I can't really comment," Jacinto said.
None of the others named in the warrant could be reached for comment. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.
Huizar's attorneys, Vicki Podberesky and Mary Carter Andrues, did not address the warrant's contents but released a statement Saturday in response to questions from The Times saying that "Huizar and his staff are focused on serving all the residents in Council District 14 and continuing to advance citywide efforts."
Chan, who retired from city employment in 2017, declined to say whether he had received a federal grand jury subpoena when contacted by The Times in November.
The first sign of an FBI investigation into City Hall occurred Nov. 7 when FBI agents hauled an array of materials from Huizar's home and office, including a cardboard box with the word "fundraising" on it. The FBI declined to discuss its investigation but confirmed that the Internal Revenue Service, which looks into unreported income, was involved.
The warrant was first reported in a tweet late Saturday by Seamus Hughes, a counterterrorism expert who is currently deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. The document is publicly available on the federal court's online records-retrieval system.
Much of the agents' focus centered on Huizar. Agents were seeking "all financial records" relating to the councilman and his mother and brother, Salvador, according to the warrant. The FBI also wanted "all records relating to projects in and around Los Angeles" in which Huizar, his staff or several other men were involved in "acquiring permits, licenses or other official city processes."
The warrant also named three companies described as "foreign investors" and sought records relating to involvement by the companies or other foreign investors in development projects in and around L.A.
At least one of those companies was listed on a document that was linked to Chan's email account and which appeared to be a long list of business deals in which Chan was involved. The warrant sought any information related to the document.
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