On the night of June 1, 2017, then-Los Angeles City councilman Mitchell Englander met a very wealthy businessman in the bathroom of a Las Vegas resort and casino to receive an envelope. Inside was $10,000, according to federal investigators.
Once Englander realized the FBI was digging into the trip, he urged the businessman to make up a story — to tell federal agents, “I was so drunk I don’t remember calling.”
That’s according to an indictment unsealed Monday in federal court in Los Angeles, accusing Englander, 49, of obstructing a public corruption investigation and covering up the expensive gifts, including the female escort, that he received from the unidentified businessman during the lavish trip. The former councilman was arrested Monday on multiple counts of witness tampering, making false statements to the FBI and participating in a scheme to falsify material facts. During his arraignment hearing, he pleaded not guilty and was released on $50,000 bond, the Los Angeles Times reported.
His attorney, Janet Levine, could not immediately be reached for comment, but said in a statement to the Times, “Despite this setback, with the support of his family and friends, he looks forward to continuing his lifelong contributions to the community that has given him so much.”
The case against Englander is part of an “ongoing public corruption” investigation relating to “pay-to-play schemes” involving Los Angeles public officials, federal prosecutors said. The FBI has served search warrants since 2018 at City Hall, the Los Angeles Department of Power and Water and at the home and offices of Councilman Jose Huizar, seeking evidence of public corruption involving various officials, according to the Times. But so far others have not been charged, the Times reported.
Englander served on the council from 2011 until Dec. 31, 2018, when he abruptly resigned in the middle of the probe and took a job in the private sector. He was the only registered Republican on the council, representing some of the city’s more conservative neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley. He also served on the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, which oversees major development projects, prosecutors said. When he left in 2018, he got mixed reviews from residents, at least some of whom viewed him as too friendly with real estate developers.
“He’s just sided with the money people, big developers, for a long time over the wishes of the people,” Jim Summers, a former president of the Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council, told the Los Angeles Times then.
Englander’s successor, Councilman John Lee, admitted to being on the trip in a statement but said he was “unaware of the illegal activities for which Councilmember Englander is being charged.” He is not named in the indictment.
“I did everything in my power to pay for and reimburse expenses related to this trip,” he said on Twitter. “I completely cooperated with the FBI when they contacted me for voluntary interviews in July and August 2017 and will continue to do so.”
(1/2) I was in Las Vegas with Councilmember Englander in June 2017, and I did everything in my power to pay for and reimburse expenses related to this trip. I was unaware of any illegal activities for which Councilmember Englander is being charged.
— Councilmember John Lee (@CD12LA) March 9, 2020
The wealthy person who took Englander to Las Vegas, who was not identified by prosecutors, worked on “major development projects” in the city. Seeking to increase his business opportunities, the businessman bought influential public officials flashy gifts or simply handed out wads of cash, according to the indictment.
He helped organize the June 2017 trip to Las Vegas for Englander, two of the councilman’s staffers, a lobbyist and another influential developer. He lent Englander $1,000 in casino chips and went on to foot the bill for a $2,481 dinner and $24,000 in bottle service, prosecutors say.
Just weeks later, Englander again met with the businessman during a golf tournament in Palm Springs, Calif.
Yet again, Englander met him in a bathroom to receive an envelope, this one containing $5,000, prosecutors say.
None of that cash or the other gifts were reported on disclosure forms public officials are required to file, prosecutors noted. Englander did not reimburse the businessman for any of the Las Vegas expenses, and did not repay him the wads of cash slipped to him in the two different bathrooms, according to the indictment.
When he found out the FBI was investigating, he started to scramble. Englander and a staffer allegedly tried to backdate two checks for about $480 to make it appear they had reimbursed the businessman for expenses before learning the FBI wanted to interview them. He contacted the businessman to discuss how they could get their stories straight when the FBI called, reminding him, “You and I have never had a conversation.”
Unknown to the city councilman, the businessman was reporting to the feds almost the entire time.
