Former councilman gets prison time for corruption
Former Los Angeles City Councilman Mitchell Englander was sentenced Monday to 14 months in prison and fined $15,000 for lying to federal authorities about secret cash payments and a debauched night in Las Vegas he received from a businessman seeking introductions to real estate developers.
U.S. District Judge John F. Walter said Englander had shown arrogance and greed in “brazenly” covering up his misconduct, and he rejected Englander’s explanation that he’d simply been trying to protect his reputation.
“There’s simply no adequate explanation as to how he totally lost his moral compass and committed this crime,” Walter said at a sentencing hearing conducted on Zoom.
Englander, 50, is the first person to be sentenced in a sprawling federal investigation into corruption at Los Angeles City Hall. He pleaded guilty in July to falsifying material facts, a felony.
As part of his plea deal, Englander admitted he lied to prosecutors and FBI agents repeatedly during three interviews in 2017 and 2018 about his dealings with the unnamed businessman. After the Vegas trip, the businessman became a government informant and secretly recorded his conversations with the former councilman.
Englander, dressed in a dark suit and wearing a white mask at a conference table next to his lawyer, expressed remorse for his crime.
“I own what I did, and I take full responsibility, 100%,” he said. “I’ve hurt the very people I love the most.
“I apologize to the court, I apologize to the FBI, I apologize to the community, my former constituents. Most important, I apologize to my family — my wife, my daughters. I’ve hurt them.”
Monday’s sentencing concluded a precipitous fall for a politician who, less than three years ago, held the City Council’s No. 2 leadership post and served on its most powerful committees — those that make decisions on real estate development, public safety and the city budget. His case was just a peripheral part of a larger scandal that sullied the reputation of City Hall and undermined the public’s trust in how elected officials handled real estate projects reshaping the downtown skyline.
At the center of the ongoing investigation is former Councilman Jose Huizar, who is awaiting trial on bribery, racketeering, fraud, money laundering and other charges for his alleged shakedowns of developers seeking city approval for major downtown building projects. Also facing charges in that case is Raymond Chan, a former deputy mayor to Mayor Eric Garcetti. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
Huizar’s former special assistant, George Esparza, along with a lobbyist and two real estate consultants, have pleaded guilty to various federal crimes that implicate Huizar in the alleged pay-to-play schemes. Esparza admitted receiving lavish perks — trips to Vegas and Australia, expensive meals and escort services — from a developer looking to build a 77-story skyscraper, while also accepting $8,000 to $10,000 per month from the businessman who provided Englander with cash.
Prosecutors had recommended that Englander receive two years in prison, a $45,500 fine and 300 hours of community service. Englander’s lawyer urged the judge to see his crime as an aberration and adopt the more lenient recommendation made by probation officials: no prison time, a $9,500 fine and three years’ probation.
Supporters of Englander — family members, friends, former colleagues and others — also asked the judge for leniency, saying he is a good father with a history of public service who has repeatedly shown remorse. One letter came from actor Sean Penn, who described how he became friends with Englander in the wake of the Woolsey fire in 2018.
“I know none of the details of Mitch’s case,” Penn wrote to the court. “Only that he is contrite and embarrassed.”
Englander served on the council from 2011 to 2018, representing such northwest San Fernando Valley neighborhoods as Chatsworth, Northridge, Porter Ranch and Granada Hills. He was the lone Republican on the council when he resigned to take a job at Oak View Group, a sports and entertainment firm.
At the time, Englander called the new job a “oncein-a-lifetime opportunity” — and did not reveal that he was facing a criminal investigation.
Known at City Hall for his tart, sometimes dismissive remarks, Englander was more conservative than most of his colleagues. He cast the sole vote against raising the city’s minimum wage in 2015. A reserve police officer, Englander supported body cameras for cops, a crackdown on illegal street racing and a proposal to force city officials to forfeit their pensions if they were found guilty of felonies.
In his criminal case, Englander admitted to lying repeatedly about his dealings with a businessman peddling smart home electronics, which can adjust air-conditioning, lighting and window shades from a phone. The businessman wanted Englander to introduce him to developers who might buy his products, prosecutors said.
In June 2017, the businessman spent tens of thousands of dollars on Las Vegas hotel rooms, meals, nightclub bar tabs and escorts for Englander, Esparza and others, court records show.