Developer who paid $500,000 bribe to Los Angeles councilman sentenced to 6 years in federal prison

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A real estate developer has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for paying $500,000 in bribes to a Los Angeles city councilman for help with a downtown project. Prosecutors say Dae Yong Lee, also known as “David Lee,” was sentenced Friday. Prosecutors said that in 2017, Lee bribed the chair of the city’s powerful Planning and Land Use Management Committee to help resolve an appeal that was blocking approval of a large residential and commercial development. More than a half-dozen people have been convicted or pleaded guilty in what authorities say was a yearslong pay-to-play scheme tied to the approval of downtown high-rise developments.