LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission on Wednesday sustained all 10 counts of ethics violations and imposed a penalty of $138,124.32 against Councilman John Lee, who allegedly accepted lavish gifts and misused his position in 2016 and 2017 during a trip to Las Vegas and at various Los Angeles restaurants when he was chief of staff to then-Councilman Mitchell Englander.
In a 3-1 vote, the commission voted to uphold a decision made by Administrative Law Judge Ji-Lan Zang, who determined Lee violated the city’s ethics rules pertaining to the dollar amount of gifts a city official can receive and disclosing such gifts through what is known as a Statement of Economic Interests, or Form 700.
Commissioner Aryeh Cohen voted against the final outcome while member Terry Kaufmann was absent during the vote.
Commissioners, however, did not agree with Zang’s dismissal of additional counts against Lee regarding misuse of his position and for assisting Englander in misusing his position — ultimately adding those violations to the list.
In a separate 4-0 vote, commissioners agreed to impose a maximum penalty of $138,124.32 for all 10 counts, as recommended by city investigators rather than Zang’s suggestion of $43,730 for the first five counts.
Lee denied the allegations in a statement and alluded to appealing the decision in court. The councilman described the process as “wasteful” and “political.”
“The Commission rubber-stamped a biased investigation and blatantly ignored all relevant facts, including that the FBI never charged me for backdating any checks or aiding Mitchell Englander’s 2017 illegal activities.