October 19, 2025 • 39 mins
Thousands hit SoCal streets for "No Kings" protests; the LAPD's request to a judge ticks off the LA city council; More LA County money is going out in legal settlements for sex abuse and the County CEO's complaint.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI
News with you on this Saturday night until nine o'clock.
And what a busy Saturday it's been. What a beautiful
Saturday it's been. We've been so lucky with the weather lately.
A little warm today, little warm tomorrow, and then the
cool down coming next week. Loving the fall weather in
southern California. There are two football games of interest in
(00:31):
action right now on this Saturday night. The resurgent UCLA
Bruins are trailing right now at the Rose Bowl ten
to seven. Maryland leading that game right now with just
over twelve minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The
twentieth ranked USC Trojans are on the road in South
Bend against rival Notre Dame, and right now the Fighting
(00:52):
Irish are leading twenty one to sixteen with the five
and a half minutes to go in the third quarter.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
There.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
We'll keep an eye on those games throughout out the night.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
We've also been keeping an eye today on the thousands
of people all across southern California who have taken to
the streets in protest no Kings, they say as they
rally against President Trump's policies. It's not just happening here,
It's happening all across the country. Similar scenes unfolding, like
(01:20):
what we saw in June. In June, the turnouts were
quite massive. It looks like they were pretty large all
across the country again today. Here's some sights and sounds
from all around, including some comments from our US Senator
Adam Schiff, the Democrat.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
No justice, no.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Kings, no justice, no justice, no justice, no justice, no Kings.
Been about retunbent.
Speaker 6 (01:50):
Had one gentleman come up to me and tell me
that he was a veteran. He had a small business
and he does work with the Pentagon, and he said,
if their shutdown goes on any longer, he'll have to
close this business. And then he paused and he said,
stand firm.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I think they're very frustrated.
Speaker 7 (02:09):
I think they could be a little bit louder. I
think maybe some of the leadership in the current Democratic
Party maybe it's time for them to step aside and
let let some new, fresh voices come to the forefront.
Speaker 6 (02:23):
There are a lot of interesting signs here today, but
one that really struck my attention was one that said,
silence his compliance. We can't be silent with this increasing
militarization of our cities, the abuse of the Justice Department,
the dismantling the science, the attacks and healthcare. People need
(02:43):
to speak out, and it's wonderful that millions around the
country are speaking out today.
Speaker 8 (02:47):
These are Love America rallies. And Speaker Johnson might disagree
with what we're saying, but he should be ashamed of
what he said. He's trying to denounce the idea of protest.
Speaker 9 (02:56):
Protest makes us free, protests may America is stronger.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So those were some of the sounds from all around
the country. You also heard there from US Senator Adam Schiff.
You heard one guy talk about these are Love America rallies.
He said that in response to US House Speaker Mike Johnson,
the Republican, who says these are hate America rallies.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
And so I noted there.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Were some pretty big turnouts all across southern California, a
variety of protests, including in Los Angeles and Los Felas,
where we found ABC's Alex Stone. I want you to
hear his reports here. And as we get towards the
end of this report, I want you to pay particular
attention to what he says about the LAPD and the
(03:51):
way it was preparing for today's events, because that's going
to be important when we go to city Hall in
our next segment, because what the LAPD did really ticked
off the city council.
Speaker 9 (04:03):
Organizers are predicting millions will take part in today's events.
Twenty six hundred planned protests across the country, a follow
up to No King's Day protests had filled streets in June.
The group's organizing today's events say they're in response to
what they call an abuse of power by President Trump
and his immigration crackdowns. Republicans are branding the events his
Hate America rallies and say the rallies will contribute to
(04:25):
the ongoing government shut down. The crowd here in the
Los Phyllis area of LA. They say that they are
here for a number of different reasons. Some are here
because they're angry about the ice raids that have been
going on around LA. Others say this is about issues
in Palestine and other issues involving the Trump administration, but
they want their voices heard here. They're on every street
corner in this intersection in the Los Philis area. They
(04:49):
say this is larger than what went on in June,
at least in Loose Phyllis did the last No King's
Day rallies that were going on all around LA. This
is a mix of families brought out their children, that
some have brought their dogs, others who are coming out
saying they just want to make a point.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
But they say this is about.
Speaker 9 (05:06):
Being peaceful and about being heard in their anger against
President Trump. Republicans are branding today's event as Hate America
rallies and say the rallies contribute to the ongoing government
shut down. That shut down now in day eighteen. Today.
Organizers say these rallies are being organized by regular people
and volunteers, but a number of groups, including the ACLU,
(05:28):
are helping to plan them. They say that they are
expecting the crowds to be quite large today here in LA.
There are worries about counter protesters getting involved in the
events today. Back in June, they were peaceful through the
day that No King's Day rallies that went on and
then they devolved into violence later on in the night.
There is that concern. Police telling us no no incredible
(05:50):
threats or seeing some chatter online, but they will be
keeping an eye on today. Police are worried today the
events will be targeted by counter protesters or somebody who
to attack the crowd, or the crowds themselves will get
out of control and June. Here at La No King's
Day events, they were peaceful through much of the day
and then they devolved in the evening into violence, and
police and riot gear fought the crowd using gas and
(06:12):
les lethal munitions like foam rounds. The LAPD says it's
ready for this weekend, whatever it brings. Organizers are predicting
millions will come out for the protests today nationwide. Alex
Stone ab snows Los Angeles, and.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
The LAPD says it was ready for today, but they
wanted to be extra ready, so the police department went
to the courts and asked them to lift an injunction
related to the type of tools the police use after
the department had been told not to use these tools.
The city council got wind of this on Friday and
(06:45):
they were really upset. We will get into that in
our next segment. But there were no Kings rallies held
all over southern California today. The big one was in
downtown Los Angeles, but we were also seeing these things
take place now Hambro Sherman Oaks, Santa Monica, Lakewood, lynn Wood.
(07:06):
We saw them in Malibu, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Whittier, Huntington Beach,
Newport Beach, Santa Ana, and also while in Riverside County.
Some of these events took place in Beaumont, Cathedral City, Corona, Hemmet,
Idle Wild Lake, elsin Or Menefee, Moreno Valley, Palm Desert,
(07:27):
Palm Springs, Riverside, San Jacinto, Temecula. So if you saw them,
if you have thoughts about them, let us know. Open
up the iHeartRadio app, click on the talkback button, let
us know how you feel about. Today's demonstrations was another
No King's protests against the Trump administration all across the
United States of America.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
What say you?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Open up that iHeartRadio app, click on the talkback button
and tell us We'll play some of your comments throughout
the night. And I imagine there's going to be a
lot for you to weigh in on. We've got a
jam pack two hours. As I said in our next segment,
we're going to dive into y City Hall got so
upset about a request to the courts from the Los
Angeles Police Departments. But there's some things that happened this
(08:13):
week that are probably making your head spend as well.
We saw the first indictments at the federal level related
to homeless money in Los Angeles County. We'll get into
what that means overall. And it really wasn't just the
indictments that were shocking. An IRS investigator said something that
(08:36):
really stood out to me that I think spells trouble
for the future of homeless funds in Los Angeles County.
And LA County also got ripped off allegedly, according to
the La County DA's office, by some of its own
employees who were wrongfully collecting unemployment benefits. But that's not
(08:56):
even the worst amount of money that left La Canties
coffers this week. We've also learned about a very powerful
woman at Los Angeles County who warned us all about
the budget crisis, the financial challenges LA County is facing,
and then managed to pocket two million dollars for self.
(09:19):
We'll talk about why that's all coming up this hour.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
And that's just this hour. We have a whole other
hour coming up on the backside of this one. Stick
with us. As Michael Monks Reports continues, you're.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Listening to KFI Am six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News.
We together till nine o'clock tonight. Thanks for being with
us on this Saturday night. In southern California, La City
Council was really upset with a decision by the LAPD
and the cooperation of the La City Attorney's office. So
(09:55):
what happened was Friday at the city council meeting, they
voted to remind the City Attorney's office that hey, the
City council is here, we matter, and we have something
to say. So just before this No King's demonstration was
(10:15):
to take place in the city of La as well
as all those other places, but specifically in La for
this story. The city council voted unanimously to tell City
Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto to remove a request that she
filed in support of LAPD, which had asked the court
(10:38):
to stop a federal judge from targeting journalists with crowd
control weapons. The LAPD had been told during the immigration
protest earlier in the summer that they were not allowed
to target journalists with what are often called crowd control weapons,
(11:00):
think about less lethal munitions. They also call them maybe
the fire a bean bag at you or rubber bullet
or something like that. They're not supposed to be doing
it journalists. But Lapd said, look, we've got this big
thing coming. It could get hairy. You might want to
shoot some people with these weapons. So the City Attorney's
office supported that idea, and the City Council was not
(11:24):
happy about it. This is City Council President Marquis Harris
Dawson speaking at yesterday's meeting.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
A tricky situation regarding the safety of this city, especially
with this weekend coming in a big No King's March
that is expected. There are lots of always lots of
concerns when we have a big march in downtown LA
or anywhere in the city, and how law enforcement relates
to that. I think the City Attorney's officers is trying
(11:53):
to respond to that. But as the member said, it's
appropriate for the City Attorney's Office to confer with this
body either as a whole or we have a public
safety committee. We have a public safety chair, we have
a pro tim we have a council president, we have
individual members somebody, and so this motion seeks to press
(12:16):
that point to the City Attorney in a way that's
public and on the record, you know, the the This
does not bind our city in any way. It simply
says that the City Attorney needs to confer with the
governing body of the city, which is the Los Angeles
City Council.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
And so this was a motion that was brought to
the floor at La City Hall yesterday without being on
the agenda. That's how quickly they had to move on this.
They had to do a bunch of procedures posted on
a physically posted on a bulletin board. They're at city
Hall to meet, you know, legal announcement requirements, and then
they rush to push this through. City Councilman Monica Rodriguez,
(12:53):
who is no fan of the executive branch and Los
Angeles also said this about the LAPD and the City
Attorney's office working together to ask a judge to remove
that order.
Speaker 10 (13:05):
Unfortunately, this isn't the only level in the branch of
government that has breached that responsibility. And so what I
hope is that this becomes a more permanent act of
this body to exercise its role in oversight, in exacting
all of our responsibilities collectively to help represent this city
(13:27):
in the best manner possible. But again, this is not
the only example. This is not an isolated situation. This
is a behavior that has not just been exemplified by
the city attorney, but it's been exemplified by other executive
branch activities as well.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
The city council approved this motion that was presented by
a City council woman, Unsses Hernandez. They voted on it unanimously,
and then just a little bit after that meeting, City
Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto abided and told the judge that
the city was pulling back its recoes west in support
of the LAPD, And it ended up not mattering because
(14:04):
the judge rejected the LAPD's request for a federal judge
to halt a ban on LAPD officers from targeting journalists
with crowd control weapons in anticipation of some potential rowdiness
at the No Kings protest today. This was the result
of a lawsuit brought by the Los Angeles Press Club
(14:27):
and some other news outlets and journalists who say, look,
we've got it on video that LAPD officers have shot
at journalists specifically insensitive body parts like their head and
these may not kill you, but they hurt. And so
(14:51):
the LA Press Club won that lawsuit and the LAPD
was told to stop targeting. Journalist asked the judge this week,
maybe let us do that just on the No King's Day.
The judge said no, and the City council said hell no,
and they were really upset with the City Attorney's office
for moving forward on this. Now that was in response
(15:15):
to anticipated potential unruliness at the No King's protests today,
but it was born out of that lawsuit that followed
the immigration related protest back in June, and the city
Council did take another action related to support of the
illegal immigrants in LA this week. They've called for a
(15:36):
know Your Rights campaign and they planned to use their
fleet of trash trucks. They told staff in a vote
to come up with some public awareness campaign using the
trash truck fleet to inform residents of their rights during
these ongoing federal illegal immigration enforcement actions. The Community Investment
(15:57):
for Families Department has been told to partner with nonprofit
organizations like the Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund, the
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and the Central American Resources
Center and others. For this campaign and this group, the
city and these nonprofits, they're expected to come up with
informational stickers and posters that can be attached on the
(16:20):
sides of garbage trucks with know your Rights messaging. Council
members called for this campaign to run for about three months.
They don't know how much this will cost. They've asked
for a report on that as well, and the city
Council has also instructed its Civil Rights department to come
(16:40):
back within a month with some ideas on establishing an
online intake system to collect personal testimony, either written or recorded,
from people who say they've been impacted by federal immigration
enforcement in the city of Los Angeles. The city officials
say they want to use this information in court proceedings
(17:02):
related to alleged violations of civil and constitutional rights and
temporary restraining orders. Meanwhile, at La County, there was a
four to one vote to declare a state of emergency
in response to these federal immigration operations. Those in support
of this idea say it's necessary that the Trump administration's
(17:25):
actions on immigration have prevented many people from going to work.
It's forced businesses to close. And the ideas that by
declaring a local emergency, they're able to move more quickly
on establishing resources to help. And one of those possibilities
is an eviction moratorium. This is something that an activist
group known as the La Tenants Union has been pushing
(17:47):
for anyway, and this group pushes for eviction moratoriums every
time the wind blows, and right now the issue is
immigration enforcement. The idea is that some folks breadwinners may
have been detained and or deported, and so now a
household does not have the income that it used to have,
(18:08):
and so what can be done to protect them from
losing their home. You've got families in Los Angeles of
mixed status. Maybe dad is here illegally, mom is not,
or the parents are here illegally the children are not,
and La County is looking for ways to protect those folks.
So an emergency has officially then declared by a four
(18:30):
to one vote. The opposition vote came from Supervisor Catherine Barker,
who happens to be the chair of the La County
Board of Supervisors.
Speaker 11 (18:37):
This year.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
She says that her opposition to the motion is about
good governance, not immigration status. She says families across Los
Angeles County are afraid. That fear is real. I've spoken
with members of our Latino community who live with the
daily anxiety that immigration actions could separate families into stabilized neighborhoods.
That fear deserves to be acknowledged with honesty and compassion.
(19:01):
Declaring a local emergency is not the right or responsible
way to respond to that.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
She says.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Emergency powers exist for crises that pose life and death
consequences like wildfires, not as a shortcut for complex policy issues.
Stretching emergency powers for federal immigration actions undermines their purpose,
invites legal challenges, and circumvents the public process. Your thoughts
(19:29):
are welcome on that issue, as well as today's no
Kings protests all across the country and here in southern California.
Just open up the iHeartRadio app and click on that
talkback button. We'll play some comments throughout the next couple
of hours. LA County is getting ripped off left and right.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
It looks like.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
It's a mess, and money, your money is flying out
of that Government building. That's what we're going to spend
the rest of this hour on who's got their hands
on your money at La County. It has been quite
a week on that front, so keep it right here
for more Michael Monks Reports.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI
News with until nine o'clock to night. The UCLA Bruins
have taken the lead over the Maryland Terrapins at the
Rose Bowl. Now up fourteen to ten with the ball
and just over two minutes left in that game. Irwin
started the season winless, zero to four, but they have
(20:30):
bounced back after firing their coach. They've won two in
a row and if they put this away, it's three
in a row. Are they the hottest team in America?
Speaker 9 (20:38):
Right now?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Meanwhile, in South Bend, Indiana, the Notre Dame of Firing
Fighting Irish ranked thirteenth. They're ranked thirteenth in the country.
They've got a three point lead over the twentieth ranked
USC Trojans. It's the fourth quarter, just over eleven minutes
to go there. It's twenty seven to twenty four. Notre Dame.
We'll continue to keep an eye on those two games tonight,
(21:01):
but what we need to be keeping our eyes on
is the amount of your money that has been flying
out of Los Angeles County in a variety of ways.
That will probably have your head spinning after this report,
if it's not already spinning, because you know what we're
going to be talking about. We got a lot to
get to in this half hour about LA County and
(21:24):
your money. Now, we got our first federal indictment on
the misuse of homeless fund that's not directly necessarily related
to Los Angeles County's budget, but we know that LA
County spends a lot on homelessness, The City of Los
Angeles spends a lot on homelessness. Quasi government agencies formed
(21:46):
between them and otherwise spend a lot on homelessness.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
And this is certainly going to.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Start raising more eyebrows if you have any left on
the way that money is used. Some employees are accused
of ripping off the county through unemployment claims, and there
are more sex abuse claims coming down the pike. They
already settled for four billion. There's more than eight hundred
(22:11):
million dollars more on the dock at Monday. And the
county CEO, Fecia Davenport, who has warned us all about
LA County's challenging financial outlook, specifically citing the cost of
legal settlements, has just pocketed a two million dollar legal
(22:33):
settlement with this county. That's what we're going to get
into right now. First up, the homeless fraud. I think
when Acting US Attorney Bill of Sale announced that there
were arrests made involving homeless funds, there were a variety
of different people that were floating through folks mindes.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Who is it? Who is it?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
It will turn out to be a couple of guys
you probably have never heard of. This is what the
Acting US Attorney BILLI. Sally had to say this week
about these two indictments.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Acting billions of dollars of public money coming into our
seven county district that is intended to be going to
address homelessness. Too often, this money has been wasted, mismanaged,
or outright stolen. We are focused on the organizations and
entities that are the recipients of these funds, and we
(23:29):
will be seeking charges against anyone who steals this money
or misrepresents how it's being used.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Bill Sally created a special criminal Task Force to investigate
homeless spending in the Central District of California that he represents.
This is the first fruit that he has presented. Two
guys arrested for their role in alleged schemes to defraud
public homelessness funds. One of them is from Brentwood, the
(24:00):
other one is from Beverly Hills. So they're definitely not
guys who they just yanked off of skid row to
reach into your pockets. These are some guys that are
well off. The problem is how they got to be
well off. Let's talk about Cody Holmes. He's thirty one
years old from Beverly Hills, arrested this week on federal
criminal complaint charging him with mail fraud and that is
(24:22):
a felony offense carrying a statutory maximum sentence of twenty
years in prison. He's accused of using his role as
the chief financial officer of a development group called Shangri
Law Industries to secure twenty five point nine million dollars
in grant money for a state homelessness project called Home
(24:44):
Key in Thousand Oaks. Now Shangri Lade already worked on
similar projects elsewhere. They had a relationship with this type
of development, and Cody Holmes got the money for his employer,
but he did so by allegedly producing fraudulent bank documents
(25:05):
suggesting that Shangri Law had more money to back up
its word than it really had. And not only that,
he's accused of taking more than two million dollars himself,
sent it over to accounts that he controls, and he
used that money to pay off American Express cards. Can
(25:26):
you imagine having a credit card bill of more than
two million dollars? He allegedly used those credit cards at
luxury retail brands. So he faces twenty years in prison.
The other guy is Stephen Taylor. He's forty four. He's
from Brentwood. He faces seven counts of bank fraud, one
(25:46):
count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of money laundering.
And this guy has allegedly been involved in more situations.
This indictment says that between August of twenty nineteen and
July of this year, he used fake bank statements and
false cash representations to obtain loans and lines of credit
to operate his real estate business. He acquired or refinanced
(26:11):
properties in Silver Lake Lows, Phelas, Westlake, del Rey, Pico Union,
Cheviot Hills, but then he lied about his financial status
allegedly to fund the purchase of that property in Cheviot Hills.
Said to the lender that his plan was to renovate
(26:35):
the property and use it for himself. So he bought
this property for eleven point two million dollars, and instead
of renovating it like he said he was going to,
allegedly with a loan through fake bank statements, he sold
(26:56):
it to a homeless housing developer who used public funds
to buy it, and he didn't do it just to
recoup the eleven point two million that he allegedly pocketed
or obtained fraudulently. He sold it to this developer, Winegart,
using public money for twenty seven point three million dollars.
(27:25):
So he allegedly lied to get the initial eleven point
two million dollar loan and then lied again to sell
it to a publicly funded agency for more than twice
the amount. He's accused of keeping open lines of credit
using fake bank statements and false representations concerning cash deposits,
(27:47):
and he faces decades in prison.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
But I want you to hear from.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Tyler Hatcher, an investigator with the IRS, because as shocking
as you may think the charges are, I thought this
was more shocking.
Speaker 8 (28:05):
The City and County of Los Angeles have been plagued
by deficient programs set up to address homelessness. Businessmen, reletters, developers,
and others have taken advantage of local, state, and federal
programs aimed at helping vulnerable citizens. This unchecked fraud stops today.
Let's hear that beginning again. The City and County of
Los Angeles have been plagued by deficient programs set up
to address homelessness.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
The IRS has come to town to say the City
and County of LA have been plagued by deficiencies in
the systems and basically it's ripe to be preyed upon
by shady developers like this. I'm sure that Acting US
Attorney Bill of Sale's task force is just getting started. Meanwhile,
(28:49):
at LA County, thirteen employees have been brought up on
charges by DA Nathan Hawkman.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
He says.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
They were pocketing unemployment funds, lined the government about not
having jobs even though they did have jobs, full time jobs,
full time county government jobs.
Speaker 12 (29:08):
These are county employees who were employed at the time
full time by either the county or their next employer,
yet applied and made applications to this COVID relief edd
fund saying in essence that they were unemployed, that they
didn't work for either anyone or the county and thereby
(29:29):
were entitled to this relief. And in that application, which
they signed under penalty of perjury, they had to list
the employer that they were listing it had just worked
at and obviously if they were applying for unemployment benefits,
they were now unemployed.
Speaker 11 (29:45):
By twelve of the thirteen of the people who are
charged listed nothing. They didn't list the county, and the
other person didn't list the county as well, listed a
different unemployment or listed the fact that they had been
terminated by the county at the time they were applying
for these add benefits.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Those thirteen employees allegedly pocketed four hundred and thirty thousand
dollars between them fraudulently through unemployment claims. That was County
DA Nathan Hofkman announcing those charges against a baker's dozen
of county employees. But if you think that's as bad
as it gets oh boy, more trouble out of La
County this week. First of all, you already know by
(30:25):
now that the county has agreed to settle thousands of
sex abuse claims for four billion dollars. What you may
not know is that on Monday, the La County Claims
Board is set to consider another eight hundred plus million
dollars in settlements related to the same thing, as the
(30:46):
county is finally getting around to investigate fraud in those
initial four billion dollars in claims. Meanwhile, the county CEO,
who's still in the job, has walked out with two
million dollars on our own. We're going to get into that.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
You're listening to KFI Am six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI
News with you till nine o'clock tonight, just into the
KFI newsroom. The LAPD has issued a pair of dispersal
orders for No King's protesters in downtown La who remain
in the area of Alameda Street between Aliso Commercial and
Temple Streets. This is in the area of the Metropolitan
(31:27):
Detention Center and the Edward R. Royball Federal Building. The
US Courthouse. This is where a lot of those immigration
related protests took place earlier in this summer. The LAPD
says those who don't disperse are subject to arrest. Another
alert came in shortly after that one. The LAPD has
(31:48):
said those two dispersal orders have been given to protesters
around Aliso and Temple Streets after projectiles were thrown at officers.
The LAPD says they're not yet releasing whether there were
rests being made. This is a police officer who's talking
to our wire service. City News Services Officer Drake Madison says,
don't know whether arrest were being made yet, So we'll
(32:11):
keep monitoring the situation in downtown LA as it appears
the No Kings protest downtown has perhaps gotten a little chippy,
to say the least. We'll continue to monitor the laped.
If you heard our earlier segment, they wanted permission to
use their less lethal munitions in a way that a
federal judge had said you can't do that anymore based
(32:33):
on their behavior during the immigration related protest.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
So if you miss any.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Part of this first hour, you can always dial us
up on the iHeartRadio app and listen at your leisure.
We've gone through a lot and we are just scratching
the surface. I've also asked for your participation. It's an
open forum here. Open up that iHeartRadio app and click
on the talkback button and share your thoughts on whatever
we're talking about today. We will check in with some
(32:58):
of our listeners. Now, let's hear from Bobby, who talked
a bit about the protests.
Speaker 13 (33:08):
Hi, Michael, I'm down here in North San Diego County
and Sanitas and I saw a protest today. It wasn't
really big, but they were definitely making a point and
attracting attention. Thanks, have a nice evening.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
You have a nice evening too.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
We'll be going to San Diego a little closer San
Diego anyway at the top of the next hour to
see what was going on with the five Freeway and
the discrepancy between the state government and the federal government
over why the freeway was closed.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Let's hear now from Ellie.
Speaker 14 (33:40):
I think the biggest disconnect with the whole concept of
a no King's rally is not that Donald Trump isn't
a king.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
Yeah, duh.
Speaker 14 (33:47):
We all know that the problem is that Donald Trump
thinks he's a king. And doesn't think he has to
follow the three branches of government that our constitution allows
us that you know, executive branch and the legislative branch
and the judicial branch. He doesn't think he has to
follow that, and that's what a king does.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Thanks for the feedback, Elie. Appreciate you listening and taking
the time to comment. And let's hear now from Mark.
Speaker 15 (34:18):
Hey, Michael Monts. I see who's protesting, and I just say,
keep on going. If you're pissing off these certain people,
then I know we're doing the right thing. Anyway.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Thanks bye, Thanks Mark.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
I guess that could be interpreted to be in support
of either the protesters or the folks being protested against
by the no Kings protests, which have taken place not
just in southern California, but all across the country. Today,
we will continue now with our look at what's going
on with La County and your money. The county has
(34:52):
already agreed to settle thousands of sex abuse claims for
four billion dollars. That's some is apparently the largest in history.
I mean, this is bigger than the Catholic Church settlements
that took place over the well. I guess for the
duration of the century. So far, it's big and it's
going to have ramifications for the county's finances for a
(35:13):
long time. But then a La Times investigation found and
we talked about this a bit, I think last week,
found that some of these claims may be fraudulent. That
the law firm involved, the DTLA Law Group, allegedly paid
some folks and not a lot when up to government buildings,
found people down on their lock and said hey, why
don't you come claim sex abuse and we'll throw you
(35:34):
some box. And now they're getting more box apparently because
the county settled so quickly. Now those are allegations raised
in the La Times article. The DTLA Law Group denies that,
but it was enough for La County Board of Supervisors
to say, maybe we should take another look at this.
So they are going to be investigating whether there are
fraudulent claims. The problem is there's now more claims coming
(35:57):
on Monday the Claims Board, which first looks at these
lawsuit settlements of a variety, but this one in particular
is big. There's hundreds more sex abuse cases eight hundred
and twenty eight million dollars more that will be discussed
at the Claims Board on Monday and then will have
to be approved by the La County Board of Supervisors.
(36:17):
I want you to understand how significant that is. In fact,
if I can help you, I will ask La County
CEO to remind us what she said, Fisia Davenport, what
she said during the county's budget process just a few
months ago.
Speaker 16 (36:37):
And I would like to say upfront that the road
ahead of us is difficult and paved with a series
of unprecedented challenges. We are facing mounting budgetary pressures that,
taken together, have the potential to seriously destabilize the county's
budget and estimate it two billion dollars in impacts related
(36:59):
to the wildfire and the tentative four billion dollar AB
two eighteen settlement, the costliest in county history. In response,
we are making three percent cuts and departmental budgets, eliminating
hundreds of vacant positions, and trimming millions of dollars from
services and supplies.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
So that is County CEO Fecia Davenport telling us a
few months ago before the county approved its budget, that
the county's finances are in trouble because of all of
these legal settlements and guests who just got a legal settlement.
County CEO, Feca Davenport, you may recall last November that
voters in La County approved Measure G. This is going
to change the whole makeup of the county government. Right now,
(37:40):
there are five supervisors and they rotate each year to
see who is the chair, and that's it. There's five
of them. Measure G means there will be nine of
them starting in twenty thirty two. But before those nine
supervisors come aboard, there will be a new position, an
elected county CEO, basically county mayor. This will be one
(38:01):
of the most powerful positions in the state of California.
Right now, the County CEO, FECA Davenport, and all of
our predecessors, they're appointed. But voters decided that Measure G
was a good idea and we'll we'll elect a county CEO.
PCA Davenport says that the language in Measure G caused
(38:22):
her reputational harm, embarrassment, and physical, emotional and mental distress,
and the La County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay
her two million dollars in damages. She's still on the job,
but she's on a medical leave until the first of
the year. Kudos to last who reported this first. This
(38:46):
thing was finalized in mid August and we just learned
about it didn't go through the public process at all.
Your money at work. We got another hour to commiserate together.
Will start the top of the next hour by going
to Camp Pendleton the celebration of the United States Marines
and the controversy over the five Freeway being shut down
(39:09):
as part of that celebration. Gas prices are going down everywhere,
all across the country except one place.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
Take a guess. That's the next hour of Michael Monks,
reports
Speaker 1 (39:21):
KFI AM six forty on demand.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI
News with you on this Saturday night until nine o'clock.
And what a busy Saturday it's been. What a beautiful
Saturday it's been. We've been so lucky with the weather lately.
A little warm today, little warm tomorrow, and then the
cool down coming next week. Loving the fall weather in
southern California. There are two football games of interest in
(00:31):
action right now on this Saturday night. The resurgent UCLA
Bruins are trailing right now at the Rose Bowl ten
to seven. Maryland leading that game right now with just
over twelve minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The
twentieth ranked USC Trojans are on the road in South
Bend against rival Notre Dame, and right now the Fighting
(00:52):
Irish are leading twenty one to sixteen with the five
and a half minutes to go in the third quarter.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
There.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
We'll keep an eye on those games throughout out the night.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
We've also been keeping an eye today on the thousands
of people all across southern California who have taken to
the streets in protest no Kings, they say as they
rally against President Trump's policies. It's not just happening here,
It's happening all across the country. Similar scenes unfolding, like
(01:20):
what we saw in June. In June, the turnouts were
quite massive. It looks like they were pretty large all
across the country again today. Here's some sights and sounds
from all around, including some comments from our US Senator
Adam Schiff, the Democrat.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
No justice, no.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Kings, no justice, no justice, no justice, no justice, no Kings.
Been about retunbent.
Speaker 6 (01:50):
Had one gentleman come up to me and tell me
that he was a veteran. He had a small business
and he does work with the Pentagon, and he said,
if their shutdown goes on any longer, he'll have to
close this business. And then he paused and he said,
stand firm.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I think they're very frustrated.
Speaker 7 (02:09):
I think they could be a little bit louder. I
think maybe some of the leadership in the current Democratic
Party maybe it's time for them to step aside and
let let some new, fresh voices come to the forefront.
Speaker 6 (02:23):
There are a lot of interesting signs here today, but
one that really struck my attention was one that said,
silence his compliance. We can't be silent with this increasing
militarization of our cities, the abuse of the Justice Department,
the dismantling the science, the attacks and healthcare. People need
(02:43):
to speak out, and it's wonderful that millions around the
country are speaking out today.
Speaker 8 (02:47):
These are Love America rallies. And Speaker Johnson might disagree
with what we're saying, but he should be ashamed of
what he said. He's trying to denounce the idea of protest.
Speaker 9 (02:56):
Protest makes us free, protests may America is stronger.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So those were some of the sounds from all around
the country. You also heard there from US Senator Adam Schiff.
You heard one guy talk about these are Love America rallies.
He said that in response to US House Speaker Mike Johnson,
the Republican, who says these are hate America rallies.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
And so I noted there.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Were some pretty big turnouts all across southern California, a
variety of protests, including in Los Angeles and Los Felas,
where we found ABC's Alex Stone. I want you to
hear his reports here. And as we get towards the
end of this report, I want you to pay particular
attention to what he says about the LAPD and the
(03:51):
way it was preparing for today's events, because that's going
to be important when we go to city Hall in
our next segment, because what the LAPD did really ticked
off the city council.
Speaker 9 (04:03):
Organizers are predicting millions will take part in today's events.
Twenty six hundred planned protests across the country, a follow
up to No King's Day protests had filled streets in June.
The group's organizing today's events say they're in response to
what they call an abuse of power by President Trump
and his immigration crackdowns. Republicans are branding the events his
Hate America rallies and say the rallies will contribute to
(04:25):
the ongoing government shut down. The crowd here in the
Los Phyllis area of LA. They say that they are
here for a number of different reasons. Some are here
because they're angry about the ice raids that have been
going on around LA. Others say this is about issues
in Palestine and other issues involving the Trump administration, but
they want their voices heard here. They're on every street
corner in this intersection in the Los Philis area. They
(04:49):
say this is larger than what went on in June,
at least in Loose Phyllis did the last No King's
Day rallies that were going on all around LA. This
is a mix of families brought out their children, that
some have brought their dogs, others who are coming out
saying they just want to make a point.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
But they say this is about.
Speaker 9 (05:06):
Being peaceful and about being heard in their anger against
President Trump. Republicans are branding today's event as Hate America
rallies and say the rallies contribute to the ongoing government
shut down. That shut down now in day eighteen. Today.
Organizers say these rallies are being organized by regular people
and volunteers, but a number of groups, including the ACLU,
(05:28):
are helping to plan them. They say that they are
expecting the crowds to be quite large today here in LA.
There are worries about counter protesters getting involved in the
events today. Back in June, they were peaceful through the
day that No King's Day rallies that went on and
then they devolved into violence later on in the night.
There is that concern. Police telling us no no incredible
(05:50):
threats or seeing some chatter online, but they will be
keeping an eye on today. Police are worried today the
events will be targeted by counter protesters or somebody who
to attack the crowd, or the crowds themselves will get
out of control and June. Here at La No King's
Day events, they were peaceful through much of the day
and then they devolved in the evening into violence, and
police and riot gear fought the crowd using gas and
(06:12):
les lethal munitions like foam rounds. The LAPD says it's
ready for this weekend, whatever it brings. Organizers are predicting
millions will come out for the protests today nationwide. Alex
Stone ab snows Los Angeles, and.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
The LAPD says it was ready for today, but they
wanted to be extra ready, so the police department went
to the courts and asked them to lift an injunction
related to the type of tools the police use after
the department had been told not to use these tools.
The city council got wind of this on Friday and
(06:45):
they were really upset. We will get into that in
our next segment. But there were no Kings rallies held
all over southern California today. The big one was in
downtown Los Angeles, but we were also seeing these things
take place now Hambro Sherman Oaks, Santa Monica, Lakewood, lynn Wood.
(07:06):
We saw them in Malibu, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Whittier, Huntington Beach,
Newport Beach, Santa Ana, and also while in Riverside County.
Some of these events took place in Beaumont, Cathedral City, Corona, Hemmet,
Idle Wild Lake, elsin Or Menefee, Moreno Valley, Palm Desert,
(07:27):
Palm Springs, Riverside, San Jacinto, Temecula. So if you saw them,
if you have thoughts about them, let us know. Open
up the iHeartRadio app, click on the talkback button, let
us know how you feel about. Today's demonstrations was another
No King's protests against the Trump administration all across the
United States of America.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
What say you?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Open up that iHeartRadio app, click on the talkback button
and tell us We'll play some of your comments throughout
the night. And I imagine there's going to be a
lot for you to weigh in on. We've got a
jam pack two hours. As I said in our next segment,
we're going to dive into y City Hall got so
upset about a request to the courts from the Los
Angeles Police Departments. But there's some things that happened this
(08:13):
week that are probably making your head spend as well.
We saw the first indictments at the federal level related
to homeless money in Los Angeles County. We'll get into
what that means overall. And it really wasn't just the
indictments that were shocking. An IRS investigator said something that
(08:36):
really stood out to me that I think spells trouble
for the future of homeless funds in Los Angeles County.
And LA County also got ripped off allegedly, according to
the La County DA's office, by some of its own
employees who were wrongfully collecting unemployment benefits. But that's not
(08:56):
even the worst amount of money that left La Canties
coffers this week. We've also learned about a very powerful
woman at Los Angeles County who warned us all about
the budget crisis, the financial challenges LA County is facing,
and then managed to pocket two million dollars for self.
(09:19):
We'll talk about why that's all coming up this hour.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
And that's just this hour. We have a whole other
hour coming up on the backside of this one. Stick
with us. As Michael Monks Reports continues, you're.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Listening to KFI Am six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News.
We together till nine o'clock tonight. Thanks for being with
us on this Saturday night. In southern California, La City
Council was really upset with a decision by the LAPD
and the cooperation of the La City Attorney's office. So
(09:55):
what happened was Friday at the city council meeting, they
voted to remind the City Attorney's office that hey, the
City council is here, we matter, and we have something
to say. So just before this No King's demonstration was
(10:15):
to take place in the city of La as well
as all those other places, but specifically in La for
this story. The city council voted unanimously to tell City
Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto to remove a request that she
filed in support of LAPD, which had asked the court
(10:38):
to stop a federal judge from targeting journalists with crowd
control weapons. The LAPD had been told during the immigration
protest earlier in the summer that they were not allowed
to target journalists with what are often called crowd control weapons,
(11:00):
think about less lethal munitions. They also call them maybe
the fire a bean bag at you or rubber bullet
or something like that. They're not supposed to be doing
it journalists. But Lapd said, look, we've got this big
thing coming. It could get hairy. You might want to
shoot some people with these weapons. So the City Attorney's
office supported that idea, and the City Council was not
(11:24):
happy about it. This is City Council President Marquis Harris
Dawson speaking at yesterday's meeting.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
A tricky situation regarding the safety of this city, especially
with this weekend coming in a big No King's March
that is expected. There are lots of always lots of
concerns when we have a big march in downtown LA
or anywhere in the city, and how law enforcement relates
to that. I think the City Attorney's officers is trying
(11:53):
to respond to that. But as the member said, it's
appropriate for the City Attorney's Office to confer with this
body either as a whole or we have a public
safety committee. We have a public safety chair, we have
a pro tim we have a council president, we have
individual members somebody, and so this motion seeks to press
(12:16):
that point to the City Attorney in a way that's
public and on the record, you know, the the This
does not bind our city in any way. It simply
says that the City Attorney needs to confer with the
governing body of the city, which is the Los Angeles
City Council.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
And so this was a motion that was brought to
the floor at La City Hall yesterday without being on
the agenda. That's how quickly they had to move on this.
They had to do a bunch of procedures posted on
a physically posted on a bulletin board. They're at city
Hall to meet, you know, legal announcement requirements, and then
they rush to push this through. City Councilman Monica Rodriguez,
(12:53):
who is no fan of the executive branch and Los
Angeles also said this about the LAPD and the City
Attorney's office working together to ask a judge to remove
that order.
Speaker 10 (13:05):
Unfortunately, this isn't the only level in the branch of
government that has breached that responsibility. And so what I
hope is that this becomes a more permanent act of
this body to exercise its role in oversight, in exacting
all of our responsibilities collectively to help represent this city
(13:27):
in the best manner possible. But again, this is not
the only example. This is not an isolated situation. This
is a behavior that has not just been exemplified by
the city attorney, but it's been exemplified by other executive
branch activities as well.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
The city council approved this motion that was presented by
a City council woman, Unsses Hernandez. They voted on it unanimously,
and then just a little bit after that meeting, City
Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto abided and told the judge that
the city was pulling back its recoes west in support
of the LAPD, And it ended up not mattering because
(14:04):
the judge rejected the LAPD's request for a federal judge
to halt a ban on LAPD officers from targeting journalists
with crowd control weapons in anticipation of some potential rowdiness
at the No Kings protest today. This was the result
of a lawsuit brought by the Los Angeles Press Club
(14:27):
and some other news outlets and journalists who say, look,
we've got it on video that LAPD officers have shot
at journalists specifically insensitive body parts like their head and
these may not kill you, but they hurt. And so
(14:51):
the LA Press Club won that lawsuit and the LAPD
was told to stop targeting. Journalist asked the judge this week,
maybe let us do that just on the No King's Day.
The judge said no, and the City council said hell no,
and they were really upset with the City Attorney's office
for moving forward on this. Now that was in response
(15:15):
to anticipated potential unruliness at the No King's protests today,
but it was born out of that lawsuit that followed
the immigration related protest back in June, and the city
Council did take another action related to support of the
illegal immigrants in LA this week. They've called for a
(15:36):
know Your Rights campaign and they planned to use their
fleet of trash trucks. They told staff in a vote
to come up with some public awareness campaign using the
trash truck fleet to inform residents of their rights during
these ongoing federal illegal immigration enforcement actions. The Community Investment
(15:57):
for Families Department has been told to partner with nonprofit
organizations like the Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund, the
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and the Central American Resources
Center and others. For this campaign and this group, the
city and these nonprofits, they're expected to come up with
informational stickers and posters that can be attached on the
(16:20):
sides of garbage trucks with know your Rights messaging. Council
members called for this campaign to run for about three months.
They don't know how much this will cost. They've asked
for a report on that as well, and the city
Council has also instructed its Civil Rights department to come
(16:40):
back within a month with some ideas on establishing an
online intake system to collect personal testimony, either written or recorded,
from people who say they've been impacted by federal immigration
enforcement in the city of Los Angeles. The city officials
say they want to use this information in court proceedings
(17:02):
related to alleged violations of civil and constitutional rights and
temporary restraining orders. Meanwhile, at La County, there was a
four to one vote to declare a state of emergency
in response to these federal immigration operations. Those in support
of this idea say it's necessary that the Trump administration's
(17:25):
actions on immigration have prevented many people from going to work.
It's forced businesses to close. And the ideas that by
declaring a local emergency, they're able to move more quickly
on establishing resources to help. And one of those possibilities
is an eviction moratorium. This is something that an activist
group known as the La Tenants Union has been pushing
(17:47):
for anyway, and this group pushes for eviction moratoriums every
time the wind blows, and right now the issue is
immigration enforcement. The idea is that some folks breadwinners may
have been detained and or deported, and so now a
household does not have the income that it used to have,
(18:08):
and so what can be done to protect them from
losing their home. You've got families in Los Angeles of
mixed status. Maybe dad is here illegally, mom is not,
or the parents are here illegally the children are not,
and La County is looking for ways to protect those folks.
So an emergency has officially then declared by a four
(18:30):
to one vote. The opposition vote came from Supervisor Catherine Barker,
who happens to be the chair of the La County
Board of Supervisors.
Speaker 11 (18:37):
This year.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
She says that her opposition to the motion is about
good governance, not immigration status. She says families across Los
Angeles County are afraid. That fear is real. I've spoken
with members of our Latino community who live with the
daily anxiety that immigration actions could separate families into stabilized neighborhoods.
That fear deserves to be acknowledged with honesty and compassion.
(19:01):
Declaring a local emergency is not the right or responsible
way to respond to that.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
She says.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Emergency powers exist for crises that pose life and death
consequences like wildfires, not as a shortcut for complex policy issues.
Stretching emergency powers for federal immigration actions undermines their purpose,
invites legal challenges, and circumvents the public process. Your thoughts
(19:29):
are welcome on that issue, as well as today's no
Kings protests all across the country and here in southern California.
Just open up the iHeartRadio app and click on that
talkback button. We'll play some comments throughout the next couple
of hours. LA County is getting ripped off left and right.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
It looks like.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
It's a mess, and money, your money is flying out
of that Government building. That's what we're going to spend
the rest of this hour on who's got their hands
on your money at La County. It has been quite
a week on that front, so keep it right here
for more Michael Monks Reports.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI
News with until nine o'clock to night. The UCLA Bruins
have taken the lead over the Maryland Terrapins at the
Rose Bowl. Now up fourteen to ten with the ball
and just over two minutes left in that game. Irwin
started the season winless, zero to four, but they have
(20:30):
bounced back after firing their coach. They've won two in
a row and if they put this away, it's three
in a row. Are they the hottest team in America?
Speaker 9 (20:38):
Right now?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Meanwhile, in South Bend, Indiana, the Notre Dame of Firing
Fighting Irish ranked thirteenth. They're ranked thirteenth in the country.
They've got a three point lead over the twentieth ranked
USC Trojans. It's the fourth quarter, just over eleven minutes
to go there. It's twenty seven to twenty four. Notre Dame.
We'll continue to keep an eye on those two games tonight,
(21:01):
but what we need to be keeping our eyes on
is the amount of your money that has been flying
out of Los Angeles County in a variety of ways.
That will probably have your head spinning after this report,
if it's not already spinning, because you know what we're
going to be talking about. We got a lot to
get to in this half hour about LA County and
(21:24):
your money. Now, we got our first federal indictment on
the misuse of homeless fund that's not directly necessarily related
to Los Angeles County's budget, but we know that LA
County spends a lot on homelessness, The City of Los
Angeles spends a lot on homelessness. Quasi government agencies formed
(21:46):
between them and otherwise spend a lot on homelessness.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
And this is certainly going to.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Start raising more eyebrows if you have any left on
the way that money is used. Some employees are accused
of ripping off the county through unemployment claims, and there
are more sex abuse claims coming down the pike. They
already settled for four billion. There's more than eight hundred
(22:11):
million dollars more on the dock at Monday. And the
county CEO, Fecia Davenport, who has warned us all about
LA County's challenging financial outlook, specifically citing the cost of
legal settlements, has just pocketed a two million dollar legal
(22:33):
settlement with this county. That's what we're going to get
into right now. First up, the homeless fraud. I think
when Acting US Attorney Bill of Sale announced that there
were arrests made involving homeless funds, there were a variety
of different people that were floating through folks mindes.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Who is it? Who is it?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
It will turn out to be a couple of guys
you probably have never heard of. This is what the
Acting US Attorney BILLI. Sally had to say this week
about these two indictments.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Acting billions of dollars of public money coming into our
seven county district that is intended to be going to
address homelessness. Too often, this money has been wasted, mismanaged,
or outright stolen. We are focused on the organizations and
entities that are the recipients of these funds, and we
(23:29):
will be seeking charges against anyone who steals this money
or misrepresents how it's being used.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Bill Sally created a special criminal Task Force to investigate
homeless spending in the Central District of California that he represents.
This is the first fruit that he has presented. Two
guys arrested for their role in alleged schemes to defraud
public homelessness funds. One of them is from Brentwood, the
(24:00):
other one is from Beverly Hills. So they're definitely not
guys who they just yanked off of skid row to
reach into your pockets. These are some guys that are
well off. The problem is how they got to be
well off. Let's talk about Cody Holmes. He's thirty one
years old from Beverly Hills, arrested this week on federal
criminal complaint charging him with mail fraud and that is
(24:22):
a felony offense carrying a statutory maximum sentence of twenty
years in prison. He's accused of using his role as
the chief financial officer of a development group called Shangri
Law Industries to secure twenty five point nine million dollars
in grant money for a state homelessness project called Home
(24:44):
Key in Thousand Oaks. Now Shangri Lade already worked on
similar projects elsewhere. They had a relationship with this type
of development, and Cody Holmes got the money for his employer,
but he did so by allegedly producing fraudulent bank documents
(25:05):
suggesting that Shangri Law had more money to back up
its word than it really had. And not only that,
he's accused of taking more than two million dollars himself,
sent it over to accounts that he controls, and he
used that money to pay off American Express cards. Can
(25:26):
you imagine having a credit card bill of more than
two million dollars? He allegedly used those credit cards at
luxury retail brands. So he faces twenty years in prison.
The other guy is Stephen Taylor. He's forty four. He's
from Brentwood. He faces seven counts of bank fraud, one
(25:46):
count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of money laundering.
And this guy has allegedly been involved in more situations.
This indictment says that between August of twenty nineteen and
July of this year, he used fake bank statements and
false cash representations to obtain loans and lines of credit
to operate his real estate business. He acquired or refinanced
(26:11):
properties in Silver Lake Lows, Phelas, Westlake, del Rey, Pico Union,
Cheviot Hills, but then he lied about his financial status
allegedly to fund the purchase of that property in Cheviot Hills.
Said to the lender that his plan was to renovate
(26:35):
the property and use it for himself. So he bought
this property for eleven point two million dollars, and instead
of renovating it like he said he was going to,
allegedly with a loan through fake bank statements, he sold
(26:56):
it to a homeless housing developer who used public funds
to buy it, and he didn't do it just to
recoup the eleven point two million that he allegedly pocketed
or obtained fraudulently. He sold it to this developer, Winegart,
using public money for twenty seven point three million dollars.
(27:25):
So he allegedly lied to get the initial eleven point
two million dollar loan and then lied again to sell
it to a publicly funded agency for more than twice
the amount. He's accused of keeping open lines of credit
using fake bank statements and false representations concerning cash deposits,
(27:47):
and he faces decades in prison.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
But I want you to hear from.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Tyler Hatcher, an investigator with the IRS, because as shocking
as you may think the charges are, I thought this
was more shocking.
Speaker 8 (28:05):
The City and County of Los Angeles have been plagued
by deficient programs set up to address homelessness. Businessmen, reletters, developers,
and others have taken advantage of local, state, and federal
programs aimed at helping vulnerable citizens. This unchecked fraud stops today.
Let's hear that beginning again. The City and County of
Los Angeles have been plagued by deficient programs set up
to address homelessness.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
The IRS has come to town to say the City
and County of LA have been plagued by deficiencies in
the systems and basically it's ripe to be preyed upon
by shady developers like this. I'm sure that Acting US
Attorney Bill of Sale's task force is just getting started. Meanwhile,
(28:49):
at LA County, thirteen employees have been brought up on
charges by DA Nathan Hawkman.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
He says.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
They were pocketing unemployment funds, lined the government about not
having jobs even though they did have jobs, full time jobs,
full time county government jobs.
Speaker 12 (29:08):
These are county employees who were employed at the time
full time by either the county or their next employer,
yet applied and made applications to this COVID relief edd
fund saying in essence that they were unemployed, that they
didn't work for either anyone or the county and thereby
(29:29):
were entitled to this relief. And in that application, which
they signed under penalty of perjury, they had to list
the employer that they were listing it had just worked
at and obviously if they were applying for unemployment benefits,
they were now unemployed.
Speaker 11 (29:45):
By twelve of the thirteen of the people who are
charged listed nothing. They didn't list the county, and the
other person didn't list the county as well, listed a
different unemployment or listed the fact that they had been
terminated by the county at the time they were applying
for these add benefits.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Those thirteen employees allegedly pocketed four hundred and thirty thousand
dollars between them fraudulently through unemployment claims. That was County
DA Nathan Hofkman announcing those charges against a baker's dozen
of county employees. But if you think that's as bad
as it gets oh boy, more trouble out of La
County this week. First of all, you already know by
(30:25):
now that the county has agreed to settle thousands of
sex abuse claims for four billion dollars. What you may
not know is that on Monday, the La County Claims
Board is set to consider another eight hundred plus million
dollars in settlements related to the same thing, as the
(30:46):
county is finally getting around to investigate fraud in those
initial four billion dollars in claims. Meanwhile, the county CEO,
who's still in the job, has walked out with two
million dollars on our own. We're going to get into that.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
You're listening to KFI Am six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI
News with you till nine o'clock tonight, just into the
KFI newsroom. The LAPD has issued a pair of dispersal
orders for No King's protesters in downtown La who remain
in the area of Alameda Street between Aliso Commercial and
Temple Streets. This is in the area of the Metropolitan
(31:27):
Detention Center and the Edward R. Royball Federal Building. The
US Courthouse. This is where a lot of those immigration
related protests took place earlier in this summer. The LAPD
says those who don't disperse are subject to arrest. Another
alert came in shortly after that one. The LAPD has
(31:48):
said those two dispersal orders have been given to protesters
around Aliso and Temple Streets after projectiles were thrown at officers.
The LAPD says they're not yet releasing whether there were
rests being made. This is a police officer who's talking
to our wire service. City News Services Officer Drake Madison says,
don't know whether arrest were being made yet, So we'll
(32:11):
keep monitoring the situation in downtown LA as it appears
the No Kings protest downtown has perhaps gotten a little chippy,
to say the least. We'll continue to monitor the laped.
If you heard our earlier segment, they wanted permission to
use their less lethal munitions in a way that a
federal judge had said you can't do that anymore based
(32:33):
on their behavior during the immigration related protest.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
So if you miss any.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Part of this first hour, you can always dial us
up on the iHeartRadio app and listen at your leisure.
We've gone through a lot and we are just scratching
the surface. I've also asked for your participation. It's an
open forum here. Open up that iHeartRadio app and click
on the talkback button and share your thoughts on whatever
we're talking about today. We will check in with some
(32:58):
of our listeners. Now, let's hear from Bobby, who talked
a bit about the protests.
Speaker 13 (33:08):
Hi, Michael, I'm down here in North San Diego County
and Sanitas and I saw a protest today. It wasn't
really big, but they were definitely making a point and
attracting attention. Thanks, have a nice evening.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
You have a nice evening too.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
We'll be going to San Diego a little closer San
Diego anyway at the top of the next hour to
see what was going on with the five Freeway and
the discrepancy between the state government and the federal government
over why the freeway was closed.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Let's hear now from Ellie.
Speaker 14 (33:40):
I think the biggest disconnect with the whole concept of
a no King's rally is not that Donald Trump isn't
a king.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
Yeah, duh.
Speaker 14 (33:47):
We all know that the problem is that Donald Trump
thinks he's a king. And doesn't think he has to
follow the three branches of government that our constitution allows
us that you know, executive branch and the legislative branch
and the judicial branch. He doesn't think he has to
follow that, and that's what a king does.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Thanks for the feedback, Elie. Appreciate you listening and taking
the time to comment. And let's hear now from Mark.
Speaker 15 (34:18):
Hey, Michael Monts. I see who's protesting, and I just say,
keep on going. If you're pissing off these certain people,
then I know we're doing the right thing. Anyway.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Thanks bye, Thanks Mark.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
I guess that could be interpreted to be in support
of either the protesters or the folks being protested against
by the no Kings protests, which have taken place not
just in southern California, but all across the country. Today,
we will continue now with our look at what's going
on with La County and your money. The county has
(34:52):
already agreed to settle thousands of sex abuse claims for
four billion dollars. That's some is apparently the largest in history.
I mean, this is bigger than the Catholic Church settlements
that took place over the well. I guess for the
duration of the century. So far, it's big and it's
going to have ramifications for the county's finances for a
(35:13):
long time. But then a La Times investigation found and
we talked about this a bit, I think last week,
found that some of these claims may be fraudulent. That
the law firm involved, the DTLA Law Group, allegedly paid
some folks and not a lot when up to government buildings,
found people down on their lock and said hey, why
don't you come claim sex abuse and we'll throw you
(35:34):
some box. And now they're getting more box apparently because
the county settled so quickly. Now those are allegations raised
in the La Times article. The DTLA Law Group denies that,
but it was enough for La County Board of Supervisors
to say, maybe we should take another look at this.
So they are going to be investigating whether there are
fraudulent claims. The problem is there's now more claims coming
(35:57):
on Monday the Claims Board, which first looks at these
lawsuit settlements of a variety, but this one in particular
is big. There's hundreds more sex abuse cases eight hundred
and twenty eight million dollars more that will be discussed
at the Claims Board on Monday and then will have
to be approved by the La County Board of Supervisors.
(36:17):
I want you to understand how significant that is. In fact,
if I can help you, I will ask La County
CEO to remind us what she said, Fisia Davenport, what
she said during the county's budget process just a few
months ago.
Speaker 16 (36:37):
And I would like to say upfront that the road
ahead of us is difficult and paved with a series
of unprecedented challenges. We are facing mounting budgetary pressures that,
taken together, have the potential to seriously destabilize the county's
budget and estimate it two billion dollars in impacts related
(36:59):
to the wildfire and the tentative four billion dollar AB
two eighteen settlement, the costliest in county history. In response,
we are making three percent cuts and departmental budgets, eliminating
hundreds of vacant positions, and trimming millions of dollars from
services and supplies.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
So that is County CEO Fecia Davenport telling us a
few months ago before the county approved its budget, that
the county's finances are in trouble because of all of
these legal settlements and guests who just got a legal settlement.
County CEO, Feca Davenport, you may recall last November that
voters in La County approved Measure G. This is going
to change the whole makeup of the county government. Right now,
(37:40):
there are five supervisors and they rotate each year to
see who is the chair, and that's it. There's five
of them. Measure G means there will be nine of
them starting in twenty thirty two. But before those nine
supervisors come aboard, there will be a new position, an
elected county CEO, basically county mayor. This will be one
(38:01):
of the most powerful positions in the state of California.
Right now, the County CEO, FECA Davenport, and all of
our predecessors, they're appointed. But voters decided that Measure G
was a good idea and we'll we'll elect a county CEO.
PCA Davenport says that the language in Measure G caused
(38:22):
her reputational harm, embarrassment, and physical, emotional and mental distress,
and the La County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay
her two million dollars in damages. She's still on the job,
but she's on a medical leave until the first of
the year. Kudos to last who reported this first. This
(38:46):
thing was finalized in mid August and we just learned
about it didn't go through the public process at all.
Your money at work. We got another hour to commiserate together.
Will start the top of the next hour by going
to Camp Pendleton the celebration of the United States Marines
and the controversy over the five Freeway being shut down
(39:09):
as part of that celebration. Gas prices are going down everywhere,
all across the country except one place.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
Take a guess. That's the next hour of Michael Monks,
reports
Speaker 1 (39:21):
KFI AM six forty on demand.
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