A man posing as a studio executive, but apparently actually working as an undercover FBI agent targeting State Sen. Ron Calderon, contacted Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar's office last year with questions about city permits.
SACRAMENTO -- A federal prosecutor who led the investigation into doping allegations involving Lance Armstrong and others in professional cycling is also one of the attorneys in charge of the current corruption probe involving state Sen. Ronald S....
SACRAMENTO -- State Assemblywoman Christina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) called Friday for state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon (D-Montebello) to resign after a cable TV network reported allegations that he accepted $40,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent as...
SACRAMENTO -- When it comes to a federal corruption case, there are few things more important than an affidavit, according to former FBI agent James Wedick. The affidavit, a sworn statement made in support of an investigation, can be "90% of your case,"...
SACRAMENTO — California legislators scrambled Thursday to distance themselves from allegations of bribery and corruption against Democratic Sen. Ronald Calderon of Montebello, a day after details of a federal probe of his activities aired on a...
Join us at 9 a.m. for an L.A. Now Live chat with Times staff writer Anthony York, who has been reporting on embattled state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon (D-Montebello). Calderon has come under fire in connection with federal investigations into alleged bribes. In one of his latest articles, York wrote: "State Sen. Ronald Calderon allegedly accepted $60,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent during an elaborate sting operation, according to a report by the Al Jazeera television network, which cited...
SACRAMENTO – State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) is “deeply concerned” about allegations of bribe-taking against state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon (D-Montebello) contained in an FBI affidavit reported Wednesday by the television network Al Jazeera. But Steinberg also disputed Calderon's claim that it was a "special ask" to get Steinberg's approval of Calderon’s request to hire a woman on the Senate staff. The hire was, unbenownst to Steinberg, part of the bribery...
SACRAMENTO -- State Sen. Ted W. Lieu (D-Torrance) said Thursday that he has been interviewed by federal investigators who are undertaking a public corruption investigation at the Capitol but said he was assured he is a witness in the building case, not the target. The investigation surfaced in June when FBI agents raided the office of state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon (D-Montebello) as they looked into his finances. Calderon allegedly accepted $60,000 in improper payments from an undercover FBI agent as...
Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 1:00 AMDuring his regular conversations with a supposed film executive who was an undercover FBI agent, Calif. state Sen. Ron Calderon talked repeatedly about his friend who owned a hospital in Long Beach.
Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 12:00 AMDuring his regular conversations with a supposed film executive who was an undercover FBI agent, Sen. Ron Calderon talked repeatedly about his friend who owned a hospital in Long Beach.
Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 12:00 AMThe elaborate FBI sting involving an undercover agent posing as a film studio owner who offered bribes to state Sen. Ron Calderon was not the first time the agency investigated the Montebello Democrat.
Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 12:00 AMThe elaborate FBI sting involving an undercover agent posing as a film studio owner who offered bribes to state Sen. Ron Calderon was not the first time the agency investigated the Montebello Democrat.
Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 12:00 AMDuring his regular conversations with a supposed film executive who was an undercover FBI agent, Sen. Ron Calderon talked repeatedly about his friend who owned a hospital in Long Beach.
Friday, November 1, 2013 at 6:53 PMA freshman lawmaker who rose through the ranks as an anti-corruption crusader has called on besieged Sen. Ron Calderon to resign his seat over allegations that he took bribes in exchange for political favors.
Friday, November 1, 2013 at 6:17 PMLawmakers took an extraordinary step to remove embattled Sen. Ron Calderon from the California Film Commission, a post he was entitled to hold until at least the end of his term.
Friday, November 1, 2013 at 6:17 PMLawmakers took an extraordinary step to remove embattled Sen. Ron Calderon from the California Film Commission, a post he was entitled to hold until at least the end of his term.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/search_results?q=+Sen.+Ron+Calderon%2C&aff=1100#storylink=cpy
LOS ANGELES — Ronald Calderon is a powerful state senator in California who holds sway over the glamorous Hollywood movie industry. He is also, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a politician on the take.
A hefty 56-year-old Democrat with salt-and-pepper hair, Calderon has been a red-carpet star in California politics for more than a decade. As an assemblyman and now a state senator representing suburban Los Angeles, he has established a well-earned reputation for spending campaign money and taxpayer funds on himself.
He’s used campaign cash to cover the finer things in life — plush golf outings, lavish trips to Cuba and Las Vegas, meals at exclusive restaurants and hotels. When California offered to purchase cars for the state’s elected officials, Calderon chose the most expensive one: a $54,830 Cadillac STS V8 luxury sedan.
Click for more on The Calderon Dynasty
But his days as a big spender may soon be over. The FBI is hot on his trail in an investigation that could become California’s biggest legislative scandal in more than two decades and could signal the downfall of a political dynasty. The FBI employed an undercover sting for more than a year that ended when agents raided the senator’s office in Sacramento in June.
Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit subsequently learned of the secret operation. This account is based on a 124-page affidavit, still under seal, filed by the FBI in U.S. District Court in Sacramento in support of a search warrant used in the raid.
The names of several other senators, including the Senate president and the chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, have surfaced in the case, although none has been implicated.
The document lays out a sordid tale of alleged bribery and corruption. Undercover FBI agents posed as independent movie executives interested in taking advantage of a program in which films with budgets of $1 million or more are eligible for special tax credits. The agents, focusing on Calderon, asked the senator to help lower the budget threshold to $500,000. Calderon, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on California's Film and Television Industries, agreed to help lower it to $750,000 but wanted financial assistance provided to his grown children, the affidavit says.
On June 21, 2012, for instance, in a restaurant in Pico Rivera, Calif., outside Los Angeles, Calderon said he could lower the budget threshold if the movie executive would hire his daughter, Jessica.
“There might be a play, you know, to lower the tax credit.” He went on: “Any help you could do for
