City Atty. to File Counts Against Bradley Today

After a six-month investigation into Mayor Tom Bradley’s personal finances and professional conduct, City Atty. James K. Hahn today will file a six-count civil suit against the mayor and release a 1,000-page report on his findings, sources familiar with the case said Tuesday.

Under state law, Bradley could face penalties totaling $2 million for failing to properly report investments, income, real estate, loans, gifts and other business dealings over a five-year period, legal sources said.

Jeanette Turvil, spokeswoman for the state Fair Political Practices Commission, which oversees enforcement of such laws, said civil penalties against Bradley “could be for an amount which is not more” than the mayor failed to report.

A Times review of Bradley’s amended statements of economic interest between 1985 and 1988 shows that amount could total $2.2 million, based on more than 100 errors in state-required financial disclosure statements filed by Bradley.

However, sources familiar with the probe said the penalties, to be negotiated by the city attorney and the mayor’s lawyers, probably would be far less than that. Generally, such fines amount to a fraction of the maximum penalty allowed. Either the city attorney or the FPPC can prosecute suspected violations of the state law.

1,000 Pages Plus

The lawsuit is the result of an investigation by Hahn’s staff that climaxes today with the release of a report running more than 1,000 pages detailing the findings. Hahn’s investigators have found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, sources familiar with the probe had said earlier.

“Everybody’s future will be weighed on (that) document,” said Councilman Nate Holden, who as a mayoral challenger in last spring’s election pounced on the ethics controversy surrounding Bradley. “I think it will be very significant. . . . I would hope City Hall is changed forever.”

Bradley is expected to hold his own news conference today to give his side of the story. Since Hahn began his inquiry in March, the mayor has made only limited comments on the issues, saying he would wait until the investigation concluded before speaking.

In preparation for release of Hahn’s report and news conference, harried aides in the city attorney’s office rushed around late Tuesday attending to final details for possibly the most important public performance of Hahn’s career.

At stake is not only Bradley’s political stature, but Hahn’s future as well. If Hahn is perceived as being too lenient toward the mayor, he could be accused of shirking his duty in order to benefit a political ally. If Hahn comes across as too harsh, it could spell his political ruin in the black constituency he shares with Bradley.

‘No-Win’ Situation

One council member, who asked not to be named, said Hahn placed himself in a “no-win” situation when he took on the investigation, despite complaints that he had legal and political conflicts of interest in his relationship with Bradley. “The question will be: ‘Did he go that extra mile to seek out all of the facts, or did he just go as far as he had to to produce a report?”

For Bradley, the failure of investigators to uncover any criminal wrongdoing could end the most serious threat ever to his political career. However, federal authorities still are investigating Bradley’s stock dealings, including his financial relationship with indicted junk bond wizard Michael Milken. That probe is not expected to end for many months.

The Hahn investigation began after Bradley, faced with media inquiries, returned $18,000 that he had received in 1988 as a paid adviser to Far East National Bank.

A central issue investigated by Hahn was a March 22, 1989, telephone conversation between Bradley and City Treasurer Leonard Rittenberg regarding the withdrawal of funds from Far East. After the call, Rittenberg reinstated a $1-million deposit of city money with the bank and added another $1 million. Bradley and Rittenberg deny that the mayor pressured the treasurer’s office to make the deposits.

Probe Escalated

The city attorney’s probe, and a separate but parallel investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department, quickly escalated to encompass other issues.

Allegations of a cover-up surfaced last summer during City Council committee hearings when it was disclosed that someone in the treasurer’s office had obscured with white correction fluid a notation on an internal document that the $2-million deposit at Far East had been made “per the mayor.”

In addition, Bradley business partner Juanita St. John faces criminal charges for her failure to account for $180,000 in city funds that were allocated to the Task Force for Africa/Los Angeles Relations, a trade promotion organization strongly backed by the mayor.

The Police Department is continuing to investigate possible criminal wrongdoing by St. John.

Times staff writers Glenn F. Bunting and Bill Boyarsky contributed to this article.