Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Huizar was granted a delay to begin his prison sentence. An earlier version of this story noted he was scheduled to surrender at the end of August.
A judge has granted former Los Angeles City Councilmember José Huizar a delay in starting his prison term for his involvement in a federal corruption case.
Huizar was scheduled to surrender at the end of August but now has until noon on Oct. 7 to begin his 13-year sentence.
In January of 2023, Huizar pleaded guilty to racketeering and tax evasion charges and admitted to accepting $1.5 million and more in bribes from developers.
He was sentenced a year later, and was to begin serving time in prison on April 30, but was granted a four-month delay just weeks before his original date of surrender. He received an additional extension on Aug. 29, with U.S. District Judge John F. Walter only citing “good cause having been shown” for the delay.
In addition to the 13-year prison term, Huizar was ordered to pay nearly $444,000 in restitution to the city of Los Angeles and almost $39,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Huizar, 55, represented Council District 14, which includes Boyle Heights, from 2005 until his resignation in 2020. In his plea agreement, the former representative admitted to leading what prosecutors described as a “CD 14 Enterprise,” from as early as February 2013 until July 2020, operating as a pay-to-play scheme in which the Councilmember leveraged his office to benefit real estate developers doing work in the district in exchange for bribes and other benefits.
These benefits were wide-ranging; from cash bribes and political contributions to flights on private jets, stays at luxury hotels, casino gambling chips and prostitution services.
“This years-long investigation uncovered one of the most audacious public corruption cases in this city’s history,” said Donald Alway, assistant director of the FBI’s L.A. field office at the time of the sentencing. “Mr. Huizar ignored the needs of his constituents and instead, served his own interests by accepting bribes and a wide assortment of luxury perks from wealthy real estate moguls and others who could afford Huizar’s political favors at the taxpayer’s expense.”
Before the scandal, Huizar was considered by many to embody the true values of the communities he represented.
Born in 1968 in Zacatecas, Mexico, Huizar was brought to the Eastside neighborhood of Boyle Heights at the age of 3. After attending the all-boys Roman Catholic high school Bishop Mora Salesian, he attended the University of California, Berkeley as an undergraduate, received a master’s degree from Princeton University and a doctorate from UCLA School of Law.
Huizar was elected to the Los Angeles Unified School District’s School Board in 2001 and served as its president. Soon after, he made history as the first Mexican immigrant elected to the L.A. City Council, representing the Eastside community.
The Councilmember became synonymous with Council District 14, and was reelected into the position in 2007, 2011 and for a final time in 2015.
According to prosecutors, Huizar’s involvement in the scheme began around the time of his last reelection in 2015 when FBI agents received a tip that he’d been spotted cashing out casino chips traced back to a Chinese developer, kicking off a years-long corruption investigation into City Hall.
Huizar lost his position as chair of the city’s influential Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee, a role he used as leverage for his backroom deals, after the FBI raided his Boyle Heights home in November of 2018 as part of the investigation. During the search, approximately $129,000 in cash was discovered in his closet. In 2020, the he was taken into custody by FBI agents.
Wow! Again? Another delay in reporting to Prison? At this rate, that criminal Huizar will die of old age before he ever reports to Prison to start his sentence. The Judge must be as corrupt as Huizar.