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The Los Angeles Ethics Commission accused Samuel Leung, the Los Angeles developer behind a 352-unit apartment project in the Harbor Gateway neighborhood, of 444 violations of local campaign fundraising laws. The committee alleged that he reimbursed donors for their contributions to political campaigns.
In doing so, Leung allegedly violated city law and blew past the city's political contribution limits, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In a Friday filing, the commission wrote that “probable cause exists” to suggest that these 444 violations took place between 2009 and 2015. The LA Times conducted an investigation in 2016 into the project that prompted the alleged violations, an apartment complex called Sea Breeze.
Through donations attributed improperly to companies and individuals, Leung made more than $600K in donations to elected officials while his project was under review by the city, the LA Times reported.
LA prohibits donors from donating to political campaigns that are under one person's name but actually funded by another. The law is intended to ensure compliance with city limits on contributions as well as provide transparency about the source of political donations, according to the LA Times.
The LA County District Attorney's Office filed charges against Leung in 2020, and that same year he pleaded guilty to “to conspiring to commit campaign money laundering,” the LA Times reported.
The ethics commission will facilitate an administrative hearing for Leung's alleged violations, during which a determination will be made whether the violations occurred and what penalties should be administered.
The maximum penalty could be $5K per violation or three times the amount of money that was illegitimately contributed — whichever is greater, according to the LA Times.
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