Former L.A. City Councilman Englander Sentenced

A federal judge has sentenced former Los Angeles City Council member Mitch Englander to 14 months in prison after Englander admitted to obstruction of justice as FBI agents investigated corruption and bribery within City Hall.Englander, who represented District 12 in the West Valley, will also have to pay a $15,100 fine and will be on probation for three years once he finishes his time in jail.Englander, 50, had requested home confinement, which U.S. District Court Judge John Water rejected. Water said Monday that Englander’s conduct required a “substantial custodial sentence.”Additionally, Water continued, the 14-month sentence will “send a strong message of general deterrence to our elected officials that no person – no matter how powerful, no matter his or her wealth, no matter his or her title – is above the law and that there are serious consequences when you decide to violate the law as the defendant has done in this case.”In March 2020, Englander surrendered to FBI agents and was charged with seven criminal counts of obstructing an investigation into allegations that he accepted a variety of bribes, including cash, kickbacks, escort services, hotel rooms and meals during 2017 business trips to Las Vegas and Palm Springs.The bribes were in exchange for Englander’s commitment to projects from real estate developers as he sat on Los Angeles Planning and Land Use Management Committee, which oversees commercial and residential development.Englander, who served on the City Council from 2011 until his 2018 resignation, pleaded guilty to one count of scheming to falsify material facts.He is one of four defendants to plead guilty in the federal probe of pay-to-play schemes in Los Angeles City Hall that also involved L.A. City Councilman Jose Huizar.