A former City Hall fundraiser was sentenced today to a year of home detention for arranging a $500,000 bribe for now-imprisoned ex-Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar to “grease the wheels” for a proposed downtown condominium project. Justin Kim was the first of four defendants to plead guilty in the “pay-to-play” federal public corruption probe centering on Huizar and his associates. Kim was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service as part of his three-year probationary sentence.
He pleaded guilty in June 2020 to a single count of federal program bribery and agreed to cooperate with investigators. Kim’s role in the bribery scheme began in 2016 when a labor group filed an appeal claiming a developer’s proposed project violated the California Environmental Quality Act. The developer contacted Kim in hopes of gaining Huizar’s support.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Huizar and the developer negotiated a $500,000 payment, and in early 2017, the developer gave Kim $400,000 in cash inside a paper bag to deliver to the council member.
Kim kept some cash for himself for acting as a go-between, then delivered the money to a staff member to pass along to Huizar, evidence showed. Prosecutors said the developer later paid the other $100,000 when the appeal was resolved, but Kim kept the money for himself. Huizar is now serving a 13-year prison sentence for accepting bribes from downtown developers and cheating on his taxes.
He pleaded guilty.
