{"id":157133,"date":"2020-12-01T16:13:38","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T00:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=157133"},"modified":"2020-12-01T17:15:02","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T01:15:02","slug":"la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Former LA Deputy Mayor, Billionaire Chinese High Roller Indicted in $1.5 Million City Hall RICO Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sprawling corruption case<\/a> centered around a $1.5 million pay-to-play scheme allegedly masterminded by Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar took a new twist Tuesday, as new defendants were added to the mix.<\/p>\n

\"Jose
Former Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan (left) and Councilman Jose Huizar are accused of orchestrating corruption of \u201cstaggering\u201d scope. (Image: LA Times\/Casino.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Federal authorities announced the unsealing of new indictments against five individuals and companies accused of complicity in the case. These include former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan and a billionaire Chinese property developer and casino high roller named Wei Huang.<\/p>\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

Crooked Skyscraper <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The councilman was arrested in June and charged with a 34-count indictment that alleged violation of the antiracketeering RICO<\/a> Act, as well as bribery, honest services fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion, among other crimes. A 41-count superseding indictment unsealed Monday alleges 452 overt acts have been committed by Huizar and his conspirators to further their criminal enterprise.<\/p>\n

Former Huizar aide and City Councilman Mitchell Englander has already pleaded guilty in the case, as has a City Hall lobbyist and two real estate consultants.<\/p>\n

\n

Chan, identified in previous court filings only as \u201cIndividual 1,\u201d has been charged with RICO conspiracy, bribery, honest services fraud, and lying to federal agents, according to Monday\u2019s indictments. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Wei is chairman of the Shenzhen New World Group, also indicted, which in early 2018 paid $60 million for Los Angeles\u2019 Sheraton Universal Hotel. It also owns the LA Grand Hotel Downtown, which it wants to develop into a new 77-story hotel tower, the tallest skyscraper west of Mississippi. That project, now on hold, needed sign off from Huizar and Chan.<\/p>\n

Wei was previously known in court filings simply as \u201cChairman E.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Operation Casino Loyale\u2019 <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The investigation into Huizar and his accomplices, dubbed \u201cOperation Casino Loyale,\u201d was triggered in 2015 when authorities in Las Vegas noticed the councilman cashing out serious money in casino chips that belonged to Wei.<\/p>\n

The billionaire is accused of showering more than $800,000 on Huizar and others during numerous trips to Las Vegas casinos. Wei even gave Huizar cash to settle a sexual harassment case brought against the councilman by a former aide.<\/p>\n

The scope of corruption outlined in this indictment is staggering,\u201d said United States Attorney Nick Hanna. \u201cAs the indictment alleges, Huizar, Chan and their network of associates repeatedly violated the public trust by soliciting and accepting numerous cash bribes and other financial benefits, turning Huizar\u2019s City Council seat into a money-making criminal enterprise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cPowerful developers, operating through well-connected lobbyists, eagerly participated in the schemes to get preferential treatment for their downtown projects,\u201d he added. \u201cThis detailed indictment, which lays bare these backroom deals, should prompt a serious discussion as to whether significant reforms are warranted in Los Angeles city government.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sprawling corruption case centered around a $1.5 million pay-to-play scheme allegedly masterminded by Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar took a new twist Tuesday, as new defendants were added to the mix. Federal authorities announced the unsealing of new indictments against five individuals and companies accused of complicity in the case. These include former […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":157134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLA Deputy Mayor, Chinese Billionaire Indicted in Jose Huizar RICO Case<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jose Huizar corruption case takes new twist as former deputy mayor Raymond Chan and Chinese property developer Wei Huang indicted.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LA Deputy Mayor, Chinese Billionaire Indicted in Jose Huizar RICO Case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jose Huizar corruption case takes new twist as former deputy mayor Raymond Chan and Chinese property developer Wei Huang indicted.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-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=\"2020-12-02T00:13:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-02T01:15:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/LA.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1245\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"704\" \/>\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<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LA Deputy Mayor, Chinese Billionaire Indicted in Jose Huizar RICO Case","description":"Jose Huizar corruption case takes new twist as former deputy mayor Raymond Chan and Chinese property developer Wei Huang indicted.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LA Deputy Mayor, Chinese Billionaire Indicted in Jose Huizar RICO Case","og_description":"Jose Huizar corruption case takes new twist as former deputy mayor Raymond Chan and Chinese property developer Wei Huang indicted.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-case\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-12-02T00:13:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-02T01:15:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1245,"height":704,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/LA.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-case\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-case\/","name":"LA Deputy Mayor, Chinese Billionaire Indicted in Jose Huizar RICO Case","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-case\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-case\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/LA.jpg","datePublished":"2020-12-02T00:13:38+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-02T01:15:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Jose Huizar corruption case takes new twist as former deputy mayor Raymond Chan and Chinese property developer Wei Huang indicted.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-case\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-case\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-case\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/LA.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/LA.jpg","width":1245,"height":704,"caption":"Former Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan (left) and Councilman Jose Huizar are accused of orchestrating corruption of \u201cstaggering\u201d scope. (Image: LA Times\/Casino.org)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/la-deputy-mayor-chinese-billionaire-indicted-in-jose-huizar-rico-case\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Politics","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/politics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Former LA Deputy Mayor, Billionaire Chinese High Roller Indicted in $1.5 Million City Hall RICO Case"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}