Suit Seeks to Bar Ethics Official From Case : Courts: Three figures in campaign financing probes say commission leader Benjamin Bycel is biased.

Three figures in probes of alleged campaign money laundering, including two relatives of former Los Angeles City Councilman Arthur K. Snyder, filed suit Thursday to disqualify the city Ethics Commission executive director from participating in proceedings involving them.

The Superior Court lawsuit claims that the commission’s top executive, Benjamin Bycel, has shown a lack of impartiality and should be blocked from presiding over an upcoming private hearing related to pending investigations.

Among other things, the lawsuit claims that Bycel should be disqualified because he acted as a lawyer for the ethics agency in earlier court proceedings, and allegedly sought to dissuade an expert witness from testifying in a separate case involving a Snyder law firm employee.

Bycel declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the city attorney will file responses soon.

The lawsuit is an outgrowth of a series of Los Angeles political money-laundering probes being conducted jointly by the Ethics Commission and state Fair Political Practices Commission. Several investigations appear to revolve around Snyder, now a prominent lobbyist, and his law firm, although the former councilman has not been accused of illegal conduct and denies wrongdoing.

Last August, in a record settlement, Taiwan-based Evergreen shipping lines, managed locally by Snyder’s brother-in-law, agreed to pay an $895,000 penalty for political money laundering. In November, the controller at Snyder’s law firm agreed to pay a $38,000 penalty for her role in a series of illegal contributions.

The current lawsuit was filed by Snyder’s sister-in-law, Blanche Wu; her husband, Ricky Poon, and an associate, Dominic Ching. Their lawyer, Mark Geragos, said the court action related to ongoing campaign money-laundering probes, but denied that his clients have violated the law.

Bycel is scheduled to hear evidence regarding Wu, Poon and Ching in a closed probable cause hearing Jan. 27, Geragos said, and later could issue a public accusation of violations.

Seeking to have a new hearing officer appointed, the suit claims that doubts have been raised about Bycel’s impartiality, including comments Bycel made to attorneys and a witness in the earlier case involving the Snyder law firm controller, Chi May Chen.

In a declaration filed Thursday, USC professor and campaign finance expert Herb Alexander said Bycel called and was “very agitated” that Alexander planned to testify for Chen as an expert witness at an administrative hearing. Bycel told Alexander he “should not testify” for the defendants, became angry and hung up, Alexander said.