Former LA city attorney Feuer lied under oath, disbarred attorney tells judge

A key attorney caught up in a scandal over litigation stemming from a faulting water billing system in Los Angeles astounded the courtroom at his sentencing for bribery on Tuesday by telling the judge that former city attorney Mike Feuer lied to a federal grand jury and that this information was contained in an affidavit from the FBI.

U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. cut off Paul Paradis, the disbarred New York attorney. Afterward the federal prosecutors refused to answer reporters’ questions about why Feuer, who is now running for Congress, had not been charged with a federal crime of perjury.

Meanwhile, Blumenfeld sentenced Paradis — who helped the FBI and the State Bar investigations of other attorneys and officials involved in the litigation scandal around the city’s excessive water bills — to 33 months in prison. The prosecutors had recommended 18 months.

In an email Tuesday, Feuer did not directly respond to a question about Paradis’ allegation during the hearing, but said, “I have already issued the unequivocal denials.”

Ever since the FBI raided his office on July 22, 2019, Feuer has denied having any involvement in a plan to pay a bribe to cover up a scheme to have attorneys working for the city also represent the ratepayer plaintiffs in multiple suits.

The U.S. Department of Justice has said this plan was approved by senior officials in the city attorney’s office, but in August 2022, the U.S. attorney’s office sent a letter to Feuer saying he was not under an ongoing investigation.

“That letter speaks for itself,” Feuer said Tuesday in his email reply.

During the hearing, Paradis began to tell the judge that Feuer lied under oath regarding his knowledge of an extortion payment ordered by attorneys in his office. “Mike Feuer testified falsely before a United States grand jury. He also made false statements to the FBI and testified falsely in his civil deposition,” Paradis said.

Almost immediately, Blumenfeld stopped him and said, “Mr. Paradis, I have reviewed carefully the papers and all that you are reporting was amply covered … so if you can kindly proceed on the assumption that I have indeed considered that information.”

Paradis moved on, unsuccessfully pleading his case for no prison time.

Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Paradis told reporters that this determination that Feuer lied was in a government application for an FBI agent’s search warrant. “It involves extortion and it also involves when Feuer knew about the collusive scheme. He lied about both,” said Paradis, who said he was “devastated” by the judge’s sentence.

Acknowledging Paradis’ help with the federal and State Bar investigations, Blumenfeld explained the sentence. “The level of corruption, and the extent of it, is mind boggling. He has shattered public confidence in the government and the legal profession. … His motivation was pure greed. He elected to go down the path of public corruption and engaged in a sophisticated scheme.”

In 2015, Paradis was hired by Feuer as one of two outside counsel to represent the Department of Water and Power in a lawsuit over the flawed rollout of its water billing system that overcharged thousands of people. Antwon Jones v. City of Los Angeles, BC577167 (L.A. Sup. Ct., filed April 1, 2015).

Paradis simultaneously represented the city and the class of ratepayers in a collusive lawsuit against the city, which led to a quick $67 million settlement without any discovery.

In 2021, Paradis pleaded guilty to one bribery charge in a cooperation plea agreement and admitted in his plea to accepting nearly $2.2 million in kickbacks from a now deceased Ohio lawyer, Jack Landskroner, who he picked to represent the client in the phony lawsuit. USA v. Paul Paradis, 2:21-cr-00540-SB (C.D. Calif., filed Nov. 29, 2021).

The cooperation plea requires Paradis to provide information to the FBI and the State Bar. The judge gave Paradis until Jan. 8 to continue aiding the two agencies’ investigations before his prison sentence begins.

Before the judge issued his final ruling, Paradis expressed remorse for his actions and asked for mercy. “I’ve ruined my life. I’m not going to make any excuse for what I did. What I did was wrong and I accept responsibility for that,” he said.

Paradis’ attorney, David C. Scheper, a partner at Winston & Strawn LLP, argued for a noncustodial sentence because of Paradis’ admission of guilt and “bravery” for cooperating for nearly five years with the government and State Bar.

Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Jamari Buxton disagreed that Paradis had been brave.

“I think it is more accurate to say that Mr. Paradis appreciated that the writing was on the wall and he made a business decision. It was in his best interest to come forward to try and get credit from the government in the form of cooperation,” Buxton said.

Asked about an appeal, Scheper said outside of the courtroom after the hearing, “We are reviewing our options,” and declined to comment any further.

During the hearing, the prosecutors said Paradis’ willingness to work as a government informant helped secure additional guilty pleas from others involved in the scheme who might not have come forward otherwise.

Thomas H. Peters, a former litigation chief of the city attorney’s office, pleaded guilty to extortion and was sentenced to nine months of home confinement.

David F. Alexander, the utility’s former chief information security officer, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about bribery-related conversations with Paradis and was sentenced to four years in prison.

David H. Wright, the former utility general manager – whom Paradis also admitted bribing to obtain a $30 million no-bid contract in June 2017 to remediate the water billing system – pleaded guilty to bribery and was sentenced to six years.