ETHICS COMMISSION IMPOSES FINES TOTALING $8,750

At its meeting today, the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission approved two stipulated orders totaling $8,750 for governmental ethics and lobbying violations.

The first case involved a violation of the Governmental Ethics Ordinance, which prohibits City employees from misusing their City positions and City resources.  Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) § 49.5.5(A).  Jaime Garcia (Garcia), a former employee of the City’s Information and Technology Agency (ITA), admitted to misusing his City position to create a personal benefit for himself by leaving his assigned work station to engage in non-work related activities and then submitting falsified time records between September 21 and December 3, 2021.  Garcia has been terminated from the City and was fined $3,750.

The second case involved a violation of the Municipal Lobbying Ordinance, which requires persons who qualify as lobbying entities to register with the Ethics Commission and to report their lobbying activities.  LAMC §§ 48.01 et seq.  Veronica Becerra (Becerra), owner of Rabuild Commercial Services, LLC (Rabuild), admitted that she failed to register as a lobbyist and file disclosure reports and that Rabuild failed to file accurate disclosure reports in 2021.  Becerra and Rabuild were fined $5,000.  Becerra has filed the required registration and amended the disclosure reports.

All penalties levied by the Ethics Commission are paid to the City’s general fund. Enforcement orders can be viewed and searched through the Ethics Commission’s Public Data Portal.