Controller Seeks to Prosecute Ally of Mayor Bradley

City Controller Rick Tuttle asked for criminal prosecution Friday of Juanita St. John--a friend and business associate of Mayor Tom Bradley--who has failed to account for more than $180,000 in city funds spent by an African trade group she directed.

St. John, executive director of the trade promotion organization, missed a 10 a.m. deadline set by the controller to supply documentation covering four years on how the money was spent. Tuttle denied a request for more time to comply sought by her lawyers, Richard Hirsch and Michael Nasatir.

“My auditors have repeatedly requested the financial documents from her,” Tuttle said. “For over a month and a half Mrs. St. John has not provided our auditors with information we requested. I have never had anyone inside or outside city government so clearly fail to comply.”

Bad Public Light

The St. John development marked the second day in a row that a close ally of the mayor was cast in a bad public light. On Thursday, a city audit reported that the city treasurer, a Bradley appointee, apparently had attempted to cover up the fact that, contrary to policy, he did not seek competitive bids before depositing taxpayer money in a bank that employed the mayor.

St. John and Bradley are longtime friends and business associates, serving as partners in a Riverside County real estate investment. She is executive director of the Africa task force, which at Bradley’s request has received about $400,000 in city funds since 1985. The purpose of the organization is to promote trade with Africa.

Bradley is being investigated by the city attorney’s office and the Los Angeles Police Department for possible conflict of interest in his financial dealings with institutions that do business with the city. Federal investigators are also exploring his purchases of stocks and bonds in connection with ongoing insider trading probes.

The controller, city attorney and other agencies are trying to determine if St. John and the Africa trade group improperly benefited from her ties with the mayor.

St. John could not be reached for comment at her home Friday. There was no answer at her office.

More Time Needed

Her lawyers said they were hired by St. John only Wednesday night, and Hirsch said they needed more time to study the case before advising St. John if she should provide the records, including personal checks, demanded by the city.

St. John previously said she supplied the controller’s office with a substantial body of records when the audit of the Africa trade group began in April. More recently, Hirsch said, St. John has been too burdened with a sick husband and a daughter’s wedding to also meet the controller’s requirements.

City Atty. James K. Hahn, whose office was asked to prosecute St. John, said no action would be taken until his staff had interviewed her and Tuttle.

Failure to obey a subpoena is a criminal misdemeanor punishable by a maximum six-month jail term and $1,000 fine.

Subpoena Issued

The city controller’s office issued its first-ever subpoena last week when it demanded that St. John document how the Task Force for Africa-Los Angeles Relations spent $180,417.35. City officials apparently were so unfamiliar with the procedures for serving a subpoena that it had to be done twice.

The first time, officials delivered the subpoena to St. John at her San Marino home, only to learn that they had no jurisdiction outside the Los Angeles city limits. Besides, the subpoena was supposed to be served by a law enforcement officer, not a city official, they learned.

On a second try Sunday, Los Angeles Police Department officers served St. John when she drove her car into the city, a spokesperson for Tuttle said.

The Africa group has its own financial problems, apart from the city’s investigation of St. John. Earlier this year, the city dropped the Africa group from the budget at Bradley’s request when the task force and its ties to the mayor became the subject of substantial publicity. As a result, said Richard Parsons, chairman of the trade group, the task force is approaching financial collapse.

Parsons said St. John played such a substantial role in the Africa group’s operations that “the whole task force is Juanita.”