The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Monday opened a review of campaign contributions alleged to be linked to the developer of a $72 million apartment complex in Harbor Gateway.
Donors identified in a Los Angeles Times investigation as having such ties gave more than $600,000 in campaign funding to Mayor Eric Garcetti, then- councilwoman Janice Hahn and several other members of the Los Angeles City Council.
Those monies were donated from 2008 to 2015, when developer Samuel Leung was seeking city approval for his 352-unit Sea Breeze complex, according to the newspaper.
Hahn — who at the time represented the Harbor Gateway neighborhood and is currently is running for Los Angeles County supervisor in the 4th District — was the biggest beneficiary, with $203,500 in contributions from those with ties to Leung, the newspaper reported.
Follow-up interviews with named contributors uncovered many working- class residents without the obvious financial means to pay $500 or more to a political campaign, according to The Times. Some denied having made any contributions.
At least one woman said she had been reimbursed, raising more flags about potential campaign finance law violations.
Leung told The Times he did not reimburse any campaign contributions and declined to comment further.
Some of the politicians involved, reached for comment by the newspaper, said they were not influenced by the donations.
Garcetti and the City Council overruled planning commission officials in changing zoning rules to allow the project to move forward.
—City News Service