Utility chief in Los Angeles resigns day after FBI raid on headquarters

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s top executive stepped down Tuesday, one day after FBI agents raided the utility’s downtown headquarters.

Mayor Eric Garcetti had announced weeks ago that David Wright, the department’s general manager, would be leaving the utility Oct. 1. In the wake of the searches at the department and other city offices, however, Wright is leaving immediately, Garcetti said.

With “law enforcement being over at the Department of Water and Power, it was clear to me he needed to step away from the department today, full stop,” Garcetti said.

The water department’s board voted Tuesday to appoint Chief Operating Officer Marty Adams, a 35-year veteran of the agency, as interim general manager, effective immediately. The commission also recommended that the City Council confirm Adams for the permanent job.

FBI agents served search warrants Monday at several government offices, including at City Attorney Mike Feuer’s office, as part of an investigation into how the city responded to the disastrous rollout of a new customer billing system in 2013.

Feuer spokesman Rob Wilcox said the warrants served at the city attorney’s office were connected to the city’s settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed over inaccurate water and power bills, as well as a separate lawsuit filed by the department and city against a consulting firm.

Wright was appointed general manager of the department in 2016 and focused on trying to fix the billing system and improving customer service.

At Wright’s recommendation, the department in 2017 approved a no-bid $30 million contract for Aventador, a company owned by Paul Paradis, who also was an attorney retained by Feuer in a lawsuit filed against the consulting firm that implemented the utility’s new billing software.