Then-Los Angeles Metropolis Atty. Mike Feuer lied to authorities investigators and doubtless obstructed justice throughout an enormous federal inquiry right into a fraudulent lawsuit orchestrated by his workplace, in response to an affidavit by an FBI agent that was made public this week.
Feuer, who has not been charged with any crimes, maintained his innocence this week.
He has lengthy denied realizing concerning the fraud behind the lawsuit involving exorbitant Division of Water and Energy payments and has equally denied data of a hush cash fee to a Beverly Hills authorized assistant who threatened to reveal the scheme.
Not solely did Feuer know concerning the authorized assistant’s threats, however he “impliedly directed” one among his high deputies to deal with her calls for, FBI Particular Agent Andrew Civetti wrote within the Jan. 31, 2020, affidavit in assist of a warrant to look Feuer’s Apple iCloud account.
As federal brokers investigated the town legal professional’s workplace and its position within the fraudulent lawsuit, Feuer misled the FBI concerning the timeline of occasions and the extent of his workplace’s position within the scheme, Civetti mentioned within the affidavit.
“A number of sources of proof present possible trigger to imagine that Feuer obstructed justice [and] made materially deceptive statements to the FBI” about his data of key occasions within the scandal, Civetti wrote.
The affidavit and several other others by Civetti have been a part of a sprawling federal felony investigation that led to expenses in opposition to three former high metropolis officers and a New York legal professional.
Making false statements to the FBI and obstructing justice are federal crimes that may carry as much as a number of years in jail, however prosecutors haven’t filed expenses in opposition to Feuer.
Throughout a July 2019 interview, which occurred whereas federal brokers have been raiding Metropolis Corridor and DWP headquarters, Feuer’s solutions concerning the origins of the fraudulent lawsuit and his data of it have been “materials and deceptive,” Civetti wrote within the affidavit.
Feuer continued to talk by cellphone or in individual to prosecutors, both straight or by his chief of employees, Leela Kapur, in response to Civetti’s affidavit.
Among the Civetti affidavits depend on info supplied to the FBI by one among Feuer’s former high deputies, Thom Peters, who oversaw civil litigation within the metropolis legal professional’s workplace. Civetti cited calendar entries, textual content messages and an audio recording that he mentioned appeared to assist Peters’ account.
On Tuesday, a trove of documents within the felony case, together with the Civetti affidavits, was launched after The Instances and Shopper Watchdog moved to unseal them.
Feuer’s “narrative of obvious obfuscation, false and deceptive statements, and omissions” have been a part of an effort to guard his political repute, Civetti wrote within the affidavit.
“On a number of events,” Feuer advised investigators that he wished to run for mayor in 2022 and “believed he can be among the many favorites,” Civetti wrote.
Feuer did run for mayor however dropped out earlier than the first. Final 12 months, he launched an unsuccessful bid for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank).
Feuer this week mentioned in an announcement that the affidavits relied on “lies” from Peters, who later pleaded responsible in his position within the scheme.
“Any declare that I knew about collusion and tried to hide it’s absurd,” Feuer mentioned in an announcement.
“I cooperated absolutely with the U.S. Legal professional’s employees and am glad they finally obtained all of the precise information,” he mentioned. “After they did, and assessed every witness’s credibility, they prosecuted the wrongdoers and acknowledged there was no ongoing investigation into me.”
In 2022, Feuer requested and obtained a letter from the U.S. legal professional’s workplace stating that he was not a goal of their investigation. Late final 12 months, prosecutors advised The Instances that the investigation was closed.
Reached this week, Peters advised The Instances: “I’m happy, however by no means shocked, to see that my statements to the FBI about Feuer have been corroborated by a number of, impartial sources.”
A longtime politician, Feuer served on the state Meeting and Metropolis Council earlier than voters elected him to be the town’s high lawyer in 2013. He grew up in San Bernardino because the son of an educator and survivor of a Nazi prisoner of battle camp. Fastidious and bold, he earned the nickname “Saint Michael” from Metropolis Council members for his concentrate on ethics. His time period as metropolis legal professional led to December 2022.
The Instances and Shopper Watchdog had sought the roughly 1,400 pages of paperwork, which embody greater than 30 search warrants filed throughout the federal government’s investigation, to higher perceive what investigators discovered about Feuer.
In a ruling final month, U.S. District Decide Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. said the documents could be unsealed, with private knowledge and references to grand jury proceedings redacted.
The paperwork present prosecutors’ need to pore over Feuer’s cellphone data and emails, and lift questions on why they by no means charged Feuer with obstruction of justice or mendacity to federal authorities.
Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. legal professional’s workplace in Los Angeles, declined to touch upon the dearth of expenses in opposition to Feuer. McEvoy mentioned the workplace has a “robust historical past” of convicting public officers.
“As we now have acknowledged earlier than, the place the proof didn’t set up each aspect of a federal crime past an inexpensive doubt, we now have not pursued expenses,” McEvoy mentioned.
Three folks went to jail following the federal government’s felony probe, together with David F. Alexander, a former DWP cybersecurity chief who was charged with mendacity to the FBI about his position in a bribery scheme and is serving a four-year jail sentence. Peters was sentenced to 9 months of residence confinement.
The corruption scheme originated after the launch of a brand new billing system by the DWP in 2013, which resulted in 1000’s of shoppers receiving faulty utility payments.
One couple in Van Nuys was despatched an almost $52,000 invoice, one among a number of examples of presidency ineptitude that stoked public anger and prompted lawsuits in opposition to the town.
The town legal professional’s workplace quietly sought out a lawyer to file a class-action lawsuit in opposition to the town over the billing mess. With a “pleasant” legal professional on the opposite aspect colluding with Feuer’s group, all of the claims may very well be settled on phrases favorable to the DWP.
Paul Paradis, a New York legal professional employed by the town legal professional’s workplace who later labored as a authorities witness, wrote the sham lawsuit and recruited an Ohio-based legal professional to file it.
The town’s plan was endangered, nonetheless, when the Beverly Hills authorized assistant threatened to go public concerning the metropolis’s dealing with of the DWP mess and demanded about $1 million to return delicate paperwork that may expose the collusive lawsuit. The authorized assistant, Julissa Salgueiro, previously labored for a Beverly Hills lawyer, Paul Kiesel, who had partnered with the town on the DWP billing litigation.
Peters, the highest Feuer deputy, would ultimately plead responsible to aiding and abetting extortion for his position within the hush cash scheme. Salgueiro, the authorized assistant, obtained $800,000 from Kiesel, in response to court docket data.
Paradis later pleaded responsible to bribery and was sentenced to almost three years in jail.
Prosecutors, of their charging paperwork in Peters’ case, made clear that different senior officers within the metropolis legal professional’s workplace knew concerning the authorized assistant’s threats. These officers went unnamed in felony court docket filings and by no means confronted expenses.
Feuer has repeatedly advised reporters that he didn’t discover out concerning the involvement of his attorneys within the collusive lawsuit till April 2019. After incriminating emails have been found on a pc within the metropolis legal professional’s workplace, his employees alerted reporters and the civil court docket, Feuer has mentioned.
“I labored with our group to reveal that collusion instantly,” Feuer advised the Instances this week. He additionally has mentioned that he didn’t know concerning the authorized assistant’s extortion threats till January 2022, when prosecutors introduced expenses in opposition to Peters.
The data unsealed this week inform a unique story.
Civetti wrote within the affidavit that “there may be possible trigger to imagine that Feuer was in actual fact conscious of Salgueiro’s threats to disclose details about the Metropolis Legal professional’s Workplace’s litigation practices until she have been paid for her silence.”
“Feuer was not solely conscious of Salgueiro’s threats and calls for, however he impliedly directed Peters to make sure that Kiesel settled these calls for by paying a big sum of hush cash,” Civetti wrote.
In an interview with investigators, Civetti wrote, Peters recounted telling Feuer in fall 2017 concerning the authorized assistant’s threats and calls for.
Weeks later, Peters attended a Dec. 1 assembly with Feuer and different metropolis employees the place they mentioned Salguiero’s threats, in response to the search warrant.
An legal professional for Salgueiro has emphasised to The Instances that his shopper has by no means been charged with a criminal offense.
Peters additionally advised investigators a couple of January 2019 assembly with Feuer, in response to the search warrant supplies.
Feuer this week mentioned that he was by no means advised in 2017 about collusion within the lawsuit, and he denied that the January 2019 assembly befell. After The Instances printed its story, Feuer clarified {that a} assembly may have occurred however that the dialogue described within the affidavit didn’t occur.
Within the affidavit, Civetti mentioned calendars and e-mail data assist that the January 2019 assembly occurred, as did a recording of a subsequent cellphone name.
At that 2019 assembly, Peters advised Feuer there was a robust probability that paperwork would turn out to be public, revealing the town legal professional’s workplace’s position within the collusive lawsuit, in response to Civetti’s affidavit. Amongst these paperwork have been data displaying that attorneys underneath Feuer had drafted the grievance filed in opposition to the town, in response to the affidavit.
Peters recounted to the FBI that Feuer was in a state of maximum shock.
“Feuer’s response was like nothing Peters had seen earlier than,” Civetti wrote in his abstract.
“Feuer was extremely emotional and visibly upset, masking his face together with his arms for an extended interval. Feuer repeated a number of occasions that this ‘can’t be so.’”
Afterward, Peters known as Paradis, Kiesel and others, mentioning a plan to be carried out “at Mike’s request” — referring to Feuer. Civetti pointed to the cellphone name, which was surreptitiously recorded, as one other piece of proof displaying Feuer’s involvement.
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