Casden Exec, Others Plead No Contest

A vice president for Alan Casden’s development company and 14 subcontractors pleaded no contest Thursday to laundering contributions to Los Angeles politicians, including the city attorney and two City Council members.

John Archibald of Casden Properties Inc. and the subcontractors were sentenced to three years’ probation for the misdemeanor convictions and ordered not to do any political fundraising during that time.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson imposed fines ranging from $1,000 to $21,700. The judge also ordered Archibald to complete 250 hours of community service.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a felony conspiracy charge, which could have brought prison sentences of up to three years for each defendant.

“The overall scheme was serious and sophisticated and I think that was reason alone to file it as a felony at the outset,” Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said Thursday. Settling the case as a misdemeanor was “appropriate” because the defendants had little or no criminal records, Cooley said.

Attorneys for Alan Casden and Casden Properties declined to comment Thursday. Archibald’s attorney, Michael Fitzgerald, said his client was “pleased that this matter is resolved.”

Cooley has made prosecuting political corruption a priority. He has won several convictions, including that of former Compton Mayor Omar Bradley and Cody Cluff, the former head of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. His office is also working with the U.S. attorney’s office on possible corruption in city contracting.

When indictments were handed down last November, Cooley said Casden, a millionaire developer, was also under investigation. When asked Thursday if his office was still looking into Casden’s actions, Cooley responded, “We don’t comment if an investigation is underway.”

Casden is a major local political contributor who has developed apartment buildings throughout Southern California, including Palazzo at Park La Brea, a luxury complex across from the Grove shopping mall.

Prosecutors said they had sought community service, rather than a large fine, for Archibald because they wanted him to be held personally accountable. They accused him of organizing the effort to raise illegal campaign contributions in 2000 and 2001.

“Any fine we believe would have been paid by Casden Properties,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Juliet Schmidt said.

Prosecutors said the defendants were also facing possible fines by the city Ethics Commission and the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

According to the district attorney’s office, Archibald and the subcontractors were trying to evade campaign finance limits by soliciting contributions from their friends, relatives and employees and later reimbursing those donors. Donations are limited to $1,000 for individual contributions in citywide races to a candidate or a campaign and $500 in a City Council race.

The contributions went to the campaigns of City Council members Jack Weiss and Wendy Greuel, City. Atty. Rocky Delgadillo and the failed mayoral campaign of former state Controller Kathleen Connell.

Defense attorney Harland Braun, who represents Jerry Hein of Desert Roofing, said the case should never have been charged as a felony. Braun said Hein admitted that he had asked employees for contributions and then reimbursed them, but Hein maintains that he did not realize that was a crime. “If they’d charged it this way in the first place, they would have saved a lot of money,” Braun said.

Defense attorney Dana Cole agreed: “It never rose to the level of felony conduct.” His client, roofing contractor Dmitri Triphon, said that when he had first heard about the charges, he thought they were a joke. Triphon also said he did not know he was doing anything wrong.

The other defendants are: Brian Larrabure of framing company BLF; Bruce Shaffer of Starlight Showers and Doors; James Gates of Capital Drywall; Randall Carpenter of Design Masonry; Gerard Lundgren of Freedom Paint; David Mercer of HMK Engineering; William Isaac of Isaac Construction; Ed Hutcherson of Seems Plumbing; Simon Rubin of Simon’s Electric; Isaac Zaharoni of Zaharoni Industries; Anthony Boozel of concrete company TBCI; and Steven Acosta, a CPA with Acosta & Co.

The defendants had contracts with Casden that ranged from $500,000 to $9 million, the district attorney’s office said.

Greuel, Weiss and Delgadillo declined to comment.

Times staff writers Jessica Garrison and Patrick McGreevy contributed to this report.