The brother of former L.A. City Councilmember José Huizar was sentenced Friday morning to community service and ordered to pay a fine for his involvement in a widespread City Hall corruption scheme.
Salvador Huizar of Boyle Heights pleaded guilty in 2022 to one felony count of making false statements to federal investigators. In his plea agreement, he admitted to lying to investigators about converting cash to checks for the disgraced politician.
U.S. District Judge John F. Walter sentenced Salvador Huizar to pay a $4,250 fine, serve a two-year probation and fulfill 100 hours of community service, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was originally facing up to five years behind bars.
Between at least Nov. 26, 2013, and Aug. 22, 2018, Salvador Huizar accepted envelopes of cash from José Huizar on at least 20 occasions for which he wrote checks back to his brother or arranged to pay his brother’s expenses in the same amounts as provided in cash, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Salvador Huizar had asked the former councilman about the money but was told by his brother that “it was better that [Salvador Huizar] did not know the source of the cash,” according to court documents.
The once-celebrated councilman representing neighborhoods including Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Downtown L.A. and Lincoln Heights admitted to accepting $1.5 million in bribes from developers to accelerate the city’s approval process for development.
He pleaded guilty last year to charges of racketeering and tax evasion and is currently serving a 13-year prison term at the Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc II, according to a representative of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
