(CN) — Former Los Angeles City Deputy Mayor Raymond She Wah Chan, as the last remaining defendant in a sprawling "Casino Loyale" scheme, was convicted on Wednesday of 12 felony charges, including racketeering and false statement charges, along with several counts of fraud and bribery.
Chan, 67, had been accused of acting as a conduit between deep-pocketed Chinese developers and city officials, and of leveraging his roles within the city’s Department of Building Safety and later as deputy mayor for economic development during a building boom in downtown Los Angeles.
“Chan used his leadership position in City Hall to favor corrupt individuals and companies willing to play dirty,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “The residents of Los Angeles deserve much better. With today’s verdict, we send a strong message that the public will not stand for corruption and that pay-to-play politics has no place in our community.”
The case — rooted in Chan's intermediation for Wei Huang, a Chinese billionaire with plans for the LA Grand Hotel Downtown, and other developers like Fuer Yuan of Jia Yuan USA Co. — included bribes, consulting fees, and illicit campaign contributions that fueled the approval process for major downtown projects.
Prosecutors highlighted Chan's partnership with convicted former City Councilman José Huizar in orchestrating a racketeering scheme that exploited their influential City Hall positions.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Faerstein summarized the objectives of the scheme dubbed "CD-14" by prosecutors as "Get money, keep power, avoid the feds," during the opening statement of Chan's trial. The partnership between Chang and Huizar facilitated a lucrative pathway for developers willing to pay bribes for project approvals, with Chan pocketing bribes himself, he said.
From 2013 to 2018, when Huizar oversaw city planning, Chan led the Building and Safety Department, became deputy mayor, and later worked as a consultant. He helped Huizar with a lawsuit during a contentious time over a department merger that threatened his role.
Chan's trial — marked by accusations of lavish corruption, including trips to Las Vegas that featured gambling, parties and illicit services that eventually tipped the FBI off to Huizar's actions — displayed the extent of the benefits Huizar received as part of the bribery scheme that Chan enabled.
Despite these details, John Hanusz, an attorney for Chan, had defended his client by portraying him as a resolute city official committed to the revitalization of downtown Los Angeles, dismissing the prosecution's narrative as fictional.
“Mr. Chan made decisions to enrich himself and his corrupt colleagues instead of advancing projects to benefit the residents of Los Angeles, and then lied about it when confronted with the facts,” said Mehtab Syed, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The ‘Casino Loyale’ investigation has shined a light on the city of Los Angeles, and the FBI will continue to weed out corruption to ensure local government operates honestly to improve the lives of Angelenos.”
Chan's conviction, alongside Huizar's previous sentencing to 13 years in federal prison, highlights a crackdown on corruption within Los Angeles City Hall. According to the United States Attorney's Office, the case exposes layers of corruption infiltrating the city's real estate development approval process, which they say directly challenges civic integrity and trust.
Chan is the last to be tried in the "Casino Loyale" case, linked to Huizar's Las Vegas activities. Huizar admitted to accepting luxuries from developers. Huizar's aide, George Esparza, pleaded guilty and testified against him. Consultant George Chiang, political fundraiser Justin Jangwoo Kim, and lobbyist Morrie Goldman have also pleaded guilty and participated in the cases against Chan and Huizar. All four now await their own sentencings.
One of the last members of the "Casino Loyale" scheme, Wei Huang, is now considered a fugitive, though his company was fined $4 million in November 2022.
Follow @MarkHebert100
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
