ETHICS COMMISSION IMPOSES $15,000 FINE IN EXCESS CONTRIBUTION CASE

The Ethics Commission unanimously approved a stipulated order at its meeting today, imposing a fine of $15,000 in an enforcement case involving violations of the per-person limits on contributions made to City candidates and officeholders.

Christopher Pak (Pak) personally contributed to two City candidate committees and two City officeholder committees between October 2014 and June 2016. During this same period, Archeon Group International (Archeon), an LLC founded and owned by Pak, contributed to three of the same committees. In addition, Datum Development Group (Datum), another LLC in which Pak holds a 50-percent ownership interest, contributed to one of the candidate committees.

Because Pak holds an ownership interest of at least 50 percent in Archeon and Datum, their contributions must be aggregated and treated as having been made by a single person. The aggregated contributions made by Pak, Archeon, and Datum totaled $8,200 and exceeded the per-person contribution limits by $4,000. Among the factors considered by the Ethics Commission in approving the stipulated $15,000 penalty was the fact that Archeon had a prior history of making excess contributions.

“Today, by unanimously voting to impose an increased penalty on an individual involved in repeat violations, the members of the Ethics Commission reminded contributors of their obligation to adhere to the City’s campaign contribution limits.” said Kirsten Pickenpaugh, Acting Director of Enforcement.

In a stipulated order, the respondent must admit to engaging in the conduct that violated the law. All fines imposed by the Ethics Commission are paid to the City’s general fund. Copies of enforcement actions and related decisions and orders are available at ethics.lacity.org.