LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles area real estate appraiser and political fundraiser has agreed to plead guilty to a federal bribery charge for coordinating a $500,000 cash payment from a real estate developer to a Los Angeles City councilmember.

The payment was reportedly intended to resolve a labor organization's appeal of a major real estate development in the councilmember's district.

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Justin Janwoo Kim, 53, agreed to plead guilty to one count of federal program bribery. He also agreed to cooperate with an ongoing public corruption probe of L.A. City Hall by federal authorities. 

According to the plea agreement, Kim, a real estate appraiser and consultant, was one of the top fundraisers for “Councilmember A” – who was a member of the City’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee, often referred to as "PLUM."

Kim is the second person to be charged in the corruption investigation.

Last week, former Councilman Mitchell Englander was indicted by federal authorities on charges including witness tampering and making false statements. Englander was also a member of PLUM.

Court documents reveal Kim supported a plan to ensure the election of Councilmember A’s relative to the L.A. City Council once Councilmember A’s term expired.

Councilmember Jose Huizar, whose office and home were raided by the FBI in 2018 had tried to get his wife, Richelle Huizar, elected to his seat.  She dropped out of the race after raids. We reached out to Huizar’s office for reaction to the federal charge against Kim, but have not received a response.

FROM THE DOJ PRESS RELEASE:

Federal authorities say the bribery scheme was triggered in the summer of 2016, when a labor organization filed an appeal claiming a real estate project violated requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act. The appeal prevented the project from moving forward in the city’s approval processes, including approvals by the PLUM Committee and City Council.

After the appeal was filed, a person identified as Developer C called Kim and asked him to obtain Councilmember A’s assistance with the appeal on Developer C’s project.

Court documents state that in 2016, Kim met with Councilmember A, City Staffer A-1, and Developer C at a Korean karaoke establishment in Los Angeles. At this meeting, Councilmember A agreed to help Developer C with resolving the issues related to the project.

At a lunch meeting the following day, City Staffer A-1 told Kim that Councilmember A would not help the project for free and that Councilmember A would require a financial benefit in exchange for help ensuring the project moved forward through the city approval process.

During a series of meetings and communications in late 2016 and early 2017, Developer C and Councilmember A – through Kim and City Staffer A-1 – negotiated a $500,000 bribe payment.

The plea agreement says that in early 2017, Developer C met Kim at a commercial building in Los Angeles and gave Kim $400,000 in cash in a paper bag that was intended for Councilmember A, according to the plea agreement. Kim admitted he later gave City Staffer A-1 hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to deliver to Councilmember A, but kept some cash for himself for facilitating the bribe payment.

In July 2017, Developer C reportedly provided the remaining $100,000 of the agreed-upon $500,000 bribe to be paid to Councilmember A for successfully resolving the appeal.  Kim admitted he met with Developer C at an office in Los Angeles and received an additional $100,000 in cash from Developer C, but Kim kept this money for himself.

Kim admitted to federal authorities he failed to declare any of the cash he received from Developer C for his role in facilitating the bribery scheme on his federal income tax return for 2017.

Kim is scheduled to make his initial appearance in this case on March 31 at 2:00 p.m. in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

He could face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.