Data Sought on Bradley Partnership : St. John Investigators to Call for Records of Real Estate Investors

Criminal investigators will seek the financial records of a business venture involving Mayor Tom Bradley and Juanita St. John, the head of a city-funded Africa trade task force that is being investigated for possible misuse of city funds, sources said.

St. John pleaded not guilty Friday to violating a subpoena for personal and task force records showing how nearly $180,000 in unaccounted-for city funds were spent.

Warrants Served

On Thursday, Los Angeles police served search warrants on several banks, seeking the financial records of St. John and the Bradley-backed Task Force for Africa/Los Angeles Relations. But sources said Friday that investigators also intend to seek records of a Riverside real estate partnership that includes the mayor, St. John and several others.

One source familiar with the criminal investigation of St. John and the task force, which is being conducted jointly by the Los Angeles Police Department and the major fraud unit of the district attorney’s office, said the real estate venture’s financial affairs will figure in the inquiry.

Police investigators have been examining the movement of at least $5,100 from an account of the nonprofit task force to an account of the real estate partnership.

Inquiry ‘Preliminary’

A source who asked not to be named stressed that the criminal inquiry is still “preliminary” and that investigators do not know whether it will eventually entangle the mayor.

The key legal question involving Bradley is whether any of the $400,000 in city money he helped obtain for the task force since 1985 has directly or indirectly benefited him. The mayor has reported collecting between $1,250 and $11,000 in income from the Riverside partnership since 1987.

Bill Chandler, Bradley’s press secretary, said the mayor would have no comment on the ongoing investigation of the task force. But the mayor has denied having any personal financial interest in the activities of the task force, and City Atty. James K. Hahn’s investigation of the group concluded Wednesday that “thus far” no violations have been found in Bradley’s business and personal ties to the task force.

History of Problems

Attorneys for St. John denied that there were any improper deposits of task force funds into the partnership.

St. John has a history of personal financial problems. City auditors have said she has not accounted for $180,000 she withdrew from task force accounts and failed to obey a city controller’s subpoena.

St. John, who has refused to talk with reporters in recent weeks, did not appear at her arraignment Friday on the subpoena violation charge. Municipal Court Judge Stephen A. Marcus rejected a constitutional challenge to the subpoena by St. John’s attorneys and set a pretrial hearing for Oct. 24.

‘We Can Now Go Forward’

“We now can go forward and Mrs. St. John is going to face a Los Angeles jury and that’s where she belongs,” Deputy City Atty. Michael Guarino said.

Richard Hirsch, St. John’s lead attorney, said he will appeal Marcus’ decision. Hirsch, after reviewing St. John’s financial records, also asserted for the first time that his client’s use of city funds was “properly related” to her duties as head of the task force.

Previously, only St. John, 58, had said the records would show she used the money appropriately.

Hirsch said some of the expenditures by St. John could “arguably” be questioned by city auditors. But he said that could be cleared up by repaying the city and “does not mean there has been an embezzlement of funds.”

Hirsch declined to comment on whether any of the tax funds were used to bail St. John out of personal financial problems.