John Lee, the only ethnic Korean American member of the Los Angeles City Council, has been ordered to pay $138,124 after the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission found he violated Los Angeles ethics rules tied to gifts he received while working for former Councilmember Mitchell Englander.
On December 17th, the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission ruled that Lee, who represents Council District 12, committed 10 violations of Los Angeles ethics regulations and imposed the full fine. The five-member commission approved the decision unanimously, 4–0, with Terry Kaufman not participating in the vote.
The commission rejected the administrative law judge’s recommendation in the case. Administrative Law Judge Ji-Lan Zang issued a 59-page recommendation on December 12th, proposing that the fine be reduced to $43,730 and that the number of alleged violations be cut by about half.
Manjusha Kulkarni, chair of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, said the panel did not accept the recommendation because its decision was “based entirely on the facts.”
In a statement, Lee said he plans to appeal. He said the commission conducted a biased investigation and ignored the fact that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) did not prosecute. He said he cooperated with the investigation and submitted documents, but he would not accept pressure to admit wrongdoing he said he did not commit or to compromise.
The complaint against Lee was filed in 2023. According to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, the violations stem from 2016–2017, when Lee served as chief of staff to Englander.
The commission said Lee received a luxury trip to Las Vegas and meals at high-end restaurants in the Los Angeles area. The Las Vegas trip included hotel accommodations, transportation, and casino chips worth $1,000, according to the investigation.
The gifts were provided by three people: businessman Andy Wang, Korean American lobbyist Michael Bae, and Korean American developer Chris Park.
Investigators applied 10 counts: two cases of receiving gifts above legal limits, three failures to report gifts, four counts of misuse of position, and one count of aiding and abetting Englander’s misuse of position. Investigators recommended a fine of about $138,000.
Englander was charged in 2017 with receiving a Las Vegas trip, $15,000 in cash, and other gifts from Wang, and he was sentenced in 2020 to 14 months in prison.
BY HYOUNGJAE KIM [kim.ian@koreadaily.com]
