LA Real Estate Developer’s Corruption Appeal Faces Wary Judges

A Ninth Circuit panel expressed skepticism Thursday toward arguments advanced by a Los Angeles real estate developer seeking to reverse his 2022 conviction for bribing acity councilman to resolve a labor dispute.

Dae Yong Lee, who goes by David Lee, was convicted by a federal jury for paying a $500,000 cash bribe to then-Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar and his special assistant to settle a labor union appeal for Lee’s downtown LA development project. Lee’ contends that parts of a surreptitiously recorded conversation where he is said to have asked about the bribery money was improperly excluded from the ...