Anaheim Politician Denies Allegations of Corruption

A former Anaheim councilman on Thursday denied allegations of graft made by an FBI informant during the corruption trial of another elected official.

Businessman and informant Vaskin Koshkerian testified this week that Santa Ana Councilman Ted Moreno, now on trial in federal court, and other Orange County elected officials approached him seeking illegal contributions, including former Anaheim Councilman Lou Lopez.

Lopez, 56, is not a defendant in the trial, and prosecutors have said he is not under suspicion.

“If I had an informant like him I would not use him,” Lopez said of Koshkerian. “He’s a liar. If he’s lied about this, what else has he lied about?”

Koshkerian said Lopez, then a member of the Anaheim City Council, sought $20,000 in 1995 in exchange for favorable votes on matters affecting Koshkerian’s business interests.

“It never happened,” said Lopez, a candidate for the state Assembly in November. “This has impacted my life, my credibility.”

Federal prosecutors said in a letter to Lopez on Wednesday they regretted “the fact that your name surfaced at trial. . . . In no way was it the government’s intention that your name come up at trial. . . . We assure you that you are no longer under investigation, and there are no pending matters whatsoever regarding you.”

The letter was signed by Assistant U.S. Attys. John Hueston and Jean Kawahara.

Lopez said he has been subpoenaed to testify in the Moreno trial.

Moreno is accused of accepting illegal campaign contributions from Koshkerian to fund city candidates in the 1996 elections and laundering the money.