City Sues Brookins in Bid to Recover Rent Subsidies

The city of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit Monday against Bishop H.H. Brookins that seeks to recover $48,259 in city rent subsidies that were paid to a poverty program run by the bishop.

The Superior Court suit alleges that Brookins, a leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and longtime mentor to Mayor Tom Bradley, concealed his ownership of the South Los Angeles building from the city in the mid-1980s to qualify for the rent funds.

After trying to negotiate a settlement, the City Council voted last month to sue Brookins and the South Los Angeles Development Corp. The council rejected a settlement proposal by Brookins that would have given the city one-year free use of a portion of the Crenshaw building, which Brookins still owns.