Hahn Backer Is Charged

A Westside real estate developer and major campaign fundraiser for Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn was charged Wednesday with conspiracy and making illegal donations.

Mark Alan Abrams, who helped raise more than $300,000 for Hahn’s various political causes, was charged with two felony counts and 10 misdemeanor counts stemming from a joint investigation by the city Ethics Commission and the office of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley.

Abrams, whose fundraising activities contributed to the cloud of ethics investigations that helped defeat Hahn in last week’s election, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in criminal court.

Abrams’ attorney, Nathan J. Hochman, told reporters his client accepts full responsibility for his actions and plans to enter a plea agreement later. He said Abrams would work with authorities in any ongoing investigations but declined to elaborate.

“Mr. Abrams intends to and has fully cooperated in the district attorney’s investigation,” Hochman said.

The charges filed Wednesday against Abrams involve an alleged scheme to violate contribution limits in city campaigns by using straw donors who were reimbursed by Abrams.

Prosecutors say Abrams recruited employees, their relatives and friends to make donations and then paid them back with cash -- a banned practice referred to as political money laundering.

Abrams is accused of hiding the true source of more than $10,000 in contributions to Hahn’s 2001 mayoral campaign committee, $6,000 in contributions to Councilman Tony Cardenas’ 2002 campaign and $5,000 to former Councilman Nick Pacheco’s 2003 campaign.

In February, the ethics panel levied a record $270,000 fine against Abrams in connection with the same alleged scheme. Hahn, Cardenas and Pacheco have not been accused of wrongdoing. All have denied knowing of illegal fundraising by Abrams.

The district attorney’s office launched its probe last year after The Times reported that three Abrams associates said they had been reimbursed by the developer after, they said, he asked them to make contributions to the mayor and the councilmen.

The newspaper also reported that Abrams, who is a target in a federal probe of an alleged $140-million real estate fraud, angled his way into the upper echelon of Hahn’s political organization after meeting the mayoral candidate in a Beverly Hills restaurant in late 2000.

Abrams’ business partner in that alleged fraud, Charles Elliott Fitzgerald, also was a Hahn financial backer who spent $70,000 to finance attack mailers against Antonio Villaraigosa in the last days of the 2001 mayoral race. The fliers targeted conservative voters who helped give Hahn his margin of victory.

Fitzgerald fled the country two years ago as the alleged scheme began to collapse, court records show.

As money from Abrams’ fundraising efforts flowed to Hahn political committees, the developer received high-level City Hall access on a troubled multimillion-dollar real estate project. Hahn also named Abrams’ real estate attorney to the Planning Commission. Hahn has said his office did not provide special treatment to Abrams.

Abrams’ main City Hall contact was former Deputy Mayor Troy Edwards, who resigned last year amid investigations of alleged links between contributions and contracts at agencies he oversaw.

As part of that ongoing federal-county “pay to play” probe, prosecutors have subpoenaed e-mails from Hahn and his top aides as well as voluminous records from Los Angeles International Airport, the Harbor Department and the Department of Water and Power.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the mayor said political money laundering is a crime against elected officials and the public. “We hope the D.A. gets to the bottom of this matter and brings justice to everyone affected,” spokesman Yusef K. Robb said.

The felony conspiracy counts filed against Abrams involve only the Cardenas and Pacheco donations, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ricardo Ocampo said. He said a three-year statute of limitations prevented authorities from filing conspiracy charges in connection with the contributions to Hahn. The 10 misdemeanor counts involve the contributions to Hahn.

In a statement Wednesday, Cardenas said that if the charges against Abrams are true, “then I am a victim of fraud.”

Pacheco, who has announced his candidacy for the District 14 council seat being vacated by Mayor-elect Villaraigosa, said he did not recall meeting Abrams. “It’s unfortunate that people try to get around the rules,” Pacheco said. “It’s illegal and stupid. I’m glad he’s getting prosecuted.”

Abrams faces up to eight years, eight months in state prison if convicted on all counts.

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Abrams chronology

2000: Abrams relocates from Orange County to the Westside and raises several thousand dollars for mayoral candidate James K. Hahn.

* 2001: As the primary election approaches in April, individuals and companies connected to Abrams contribute at least $17,000 more to Hahn. In addition, Abrams’ business partner spends $70,000 on “independent” mass mailings attacking Hahn’s opponent, Antonio Villaraigosa, in the final days of the June runoff. After Hahn becomes mayor, his office presses city officials to help Abrams with a troubled real estate project.

* 2002: Abrams’ firm contributes $225,000 to L.A. United, Hahn’s campaign to fight San Fernando Valley secession. Hahn appoints Abrams’ real estate attorney to the city Planning Commission.

* 2003: Abrams is sued by Lehman Bros. Bank, which alleges Abrams and his associates conspired to fraudulently obtain $140 million in home mortgages. Abrams becomes a chief target in a federal criminal investigation of the alleged mortgage scheme.

* 2004: The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office begins a review of tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions raised for Hahn and two political allies by Abrams.

Los Angeles Times