LOS ANGELES : Hard Rock Cafe, Taipei Firm Fined for Campaign Gifts

Continuing a crackdown on political money laundering in the Los Angeles area, the state Fair Political Practices Commission on Monday announced a total of $54,000 in penalties from settlements with a Taipei investment firm and operators of the Hard Rock Cafe chain.

“We want to send a message to the community that if you engage in money laundering, you are going to pay a hefty penalty,” FPPC Chairman Ravi Metha said.

In the settlements, Grand Sunrise Inc., a Taipei-based firm that in 1991 was developing a hotel property in Los Angeles, agreed to pay $41,000 in penalties for secretly reimbursing 22 campaign contributions. The donations, which investigators said appeared to be part of an organized scheme to circumvent the law, were channeled to Los Angeles City Council members through various individuals and small companies, records indicate. Grand Sunrise officials could not be reached for comment.

In the second case, Hard Rock Cafe America agreed to pay a $13,600 penalty for making illegal reimbursements to owner Peter Morton, who made donations to former City Councilman Mike Woo and the gubernatorial campaigns of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica). Morton earlier paid a $12,000 fine to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission for some of the same violations.

“The fact that this was a problem came to him as a deep personal shock,” said Jan Baran, who represented Morton in the case.

In recent years, the FPPC and the city Ethics Commission have collected about $1.5 million in fines from a series of political money laundering cases. One criminal prosecution involving former Los Angeles Councilman Arthur K. Snyder is pending. No recipients of the illegal donations have been accused of wrongdoing. But officials say money laundering, because it camouflages the true source of financial support, circumvents contribution limits and boosts the potential influence of special interest donors.