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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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 another
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 2 (00:57):
We'll keep an eye on those games throughout the night.
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. No justice, no Kings, no justice,
no justice, no justice, no justice, no Kings.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Averconda had one gentleman come up to me and tell
me 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 1 (02:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I think they're very frustrated.
Speaker 5 (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 some new, fresh voices come to the forefront.
Speaker 4 (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 dismantlingness science, the attacks and healthcare. People need to
(02:43):
speak out, and it's wonderful that millions around the country
are speaking out today.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
These are Love America rallies.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
And Speaker Johnson may 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 7 (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
shiff 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. And so I noted there were some pretty
big turnouts all across southern California, a variety of protests,
(03:36):
including in Los Angeles and Los Felis, 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 way it was preparing
for today's events, because that's going to be important when
(03:56):
we go to city Hall in our next segment, because
what the LAPD did really ticked off the city Council.
Speaker 8 (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 is
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 Phylis area. They
(04:49):
say this is larger than what went on in June,
at least in those 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, some
have brought their dogs, others who are coming out saying
they just want to make a point. But they say
this is about being peaceful and about being heard in
(05:09):
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, are helping to plan them. They say
(05:30):
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 known credible threats or seeing some chatter online
(05:53):
but they will be keeping an eye on today. Police
are worried today the events will be targeted by counter
protesters or somebody who are 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 les lethal munitions like foam rounds.
(06:14):
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.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
And 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 Anna, and also out in Riverside County.
Some of these events took place in Beaumont, Cathedral City, Corona, Hemmet,
Idle Wild Lake, Elsinore, Menefee, Moreno Valley, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Riverside,
(07:28):
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. What say you? Open up that iHeartRadio app,
(07:52):
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 week that are probably
(08:15):
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 really stood out to
(08:37):
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 even the worst amount of
(08:58):
money that left LA Counties 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. We'll talk about why that's
(09:20):
all coming up this hour, 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.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
You're 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 LPD 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
they fire a beanbag at you or rubber bullet or
something like that. They're not supposed to be doing it
a 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.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Law enforcement relates to that.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I think the City Attorney's officers is trying to respond
to that. But as the member said.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
It's appropriate for.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
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 that point to
the City Attorney in a way that's public and on
(12:20):
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 a 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 rushed to push this through. City Councilman Monic Rodriguez,
(12:53):
who is no fan of the executive branch in 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 9 (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 is 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, unses 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 request 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.
Speaker 7 (15:13):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
That was in response to anticipated potential unruliness at the
No King's protests today, but it was born out of
that lawsuit that followed the immigration related protests back in June,
and the city Council did take another action related to
support of the legal immigrants in LA this week. They've
(15:35):
called for a 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.
(15:56):
The Community Investment 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
(16:16):
come up with informational stickers and posters that can be
attached on the 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
(16:39):
department to come 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 in
(17:01):
court proceedings 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
(17:24):
Trump administration's 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
(17:46):
has been pushing 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
(18:07):
it used to have, 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
(18:29):
declared by a four to one vote. The opposition vote
came from Supervisor Catherine Barker, who happens to be the
chair of the La County Board of Supervisors this year.
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
(18:49):
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.
Declaring a local emergency is not the right or responsible
way to respond to that. She says. Emergency powers exist
(19:10):
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 are welcome
on that issue, as well as today's no Kings protests
(19:33):
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. It
looks like it's a mess, and money, your money is
flying out of that government building. That's what we're going
(19:55):
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
right now? Meanwhile, in South Bend, Indiana, the Notre Dame
of Firing Fighting Irish ranked thirteenth. They 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
(20:51):
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, 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
(21:14):
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 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
(21:39):
we know that LA County spends a lot on homelessness,
The City of Los Angeles spends a lot on homelessness.
Quasi government agencies formed between them and otherwise spend a
lot on homelessness. And this is certainly going to 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
(22:02):
more sex abuse claims coming down the pike. They already
settled for four billion. There's more than eight hundred million
dollars more on the dock at Monday, and the county CEO,
Fecia Davenport, who has warned us all about LA County's
(22:23):
challenging financial outlook, specifically citing the cost of legal settlements,
has just pocketed a two million dollar legal 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
(22:46):
involving homeless funds, there were a variety of different people
that were floating through folks minds. Who is it? Who
is it? Will turn out to be a couple of
guys you probably have never heard of. This is what
the Acting US Attorney Bill Sally had to say this
week about these two indictments.
Speaker 10 (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 Lad 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 person.
The other guy is Steven Taylor. He's forty four's from Brentwood.
He faces seven counts of bank fraud, one count of
(25:46):
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 properties
(26:12):
in Silver Lake, Los Felis, 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, Wininguart,
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. But I want you
to hear from Tyler Hatcher, an investigator with the IRS,
because as shocking as you may think the charges are.
I thought this was more shocking.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
The City and County of Los Angeles have been played
by deficient programs set up to address homelessness. Businessmen, realtters, 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 Hakman. He says 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 11 (29:08):
These are county employees who were employed at.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
The time, full time by either the.
Speaker 11 (29:13):
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 were entitled to this relief.
Speaker 12 (29:31):
And in that.
Speaker 11 (29:32):
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. By twelve of the
thirteen of the people who are charge listed nothing. They
didn't list the county, and the other person didn't list
(29:54):
the county as well, listed a different unemployment or listed
the fact that they had been terminated by the county
at the time they are 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
arrests 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. So if
you miss any 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
(32:54):
on whatever we're talking about today. We will check in
with some 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 2 (33:22):
You have a nice evening too. 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. Let's hear now from Ellie.
Speaker 12 (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. Yeah. Uh, 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
(34:02):
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 7 (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 2 (34:29):
Thanks bye, Thanks Mark. 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.
(34:51):
The county has 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
(35:11):
county's finances for a long time. But then in 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,
went up to government buildings, found people down on their
lock and said hey, why don't you come claim sex
(35:32):
abuse and we'll throw you some bocks. 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
(35:55):
is there's now more claims coming 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
(36:16):
La County Board of Supervisors. 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 14 (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
to two eighteen settlement, the costliest in county history. In response,
we are making three percent cuts and departmental budgets, eliminating
hundreds of vacant physicians, and trimming millions of dollars from
services and supplies.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
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.
(37:40):
Right now, 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
(38:00):
one of the most powerful positions in the state of California.
Right now, the County CEO f you SA Davenport, and
all of our predecessors, they're appointed, but voters decided that
Measure G was a good idea, and we'll we'll, we'll
elect a county CEO. PCA Davenport says that the language
in Measure G caused her reputational harm, embarrassment, and physical,
(38:28):
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 LAist
who reported this first. This thing was finalized in mid
August and we just learned about it didn't go through
(38:51):
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 as part of that celebration.
(39:12):
Gas prices are going down everywhere, all across the country
except one place. 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 another
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 2 (00:57):
We'll keep an eye on those games throughout the night.
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. No justice, no Kings, no justice,
no justice, no justice, no justice, no Kings.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Averconda had one gentleman come up to me and tell
me 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 1 (02:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I think they're very frustrated.
Speaker 5 (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 some new, fresh voices come to the forefront.
Speaker 4 (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 dismantlingness science, the attacks and healthcare. People need to
(02:43):
speak out, and it's wonderful that millions around the country
are speaking out today.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
These are Love America rallies.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
And Speaker Johnson may 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 7 (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
shiff 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. And so I noted there were some pretty
big turnouts all across southern California, a variety of protests,
(03:36):
including in Los Angeles and Los Felis, 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 way it was preparing
for today's events, because that's going to be important when
(03:56):
we go to city Hall in our next segment, because
what the LAPD did really ticked off the city Council.
Speaker 8 (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 is
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 Phylis area. They
(04:49):
say this is larger than what went on in June,
at least in those 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, some
have brought their dogs, others who are coming out saying
they just want to make a point. But they say
this is about being peaceful and about being heard in
(05:09):
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, are helping to plan them. They say
(05:30):
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 known credible threats or seeing some chatter online
(05:53):
but they will be keeping an eye on today. Police
are worried today the events will be targeted by counter
protesters or somebody who are 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 les lethal munitions like foam rounds.
(06:14):
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.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
And 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 Anna, and also out in Riverside County.
Some of these events took place in Beaumont, Cathedral City, Corona, Hemmet,
Idle Wild Lake, Elsinore, Menefee, Moreno Valley, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Riverside,
(07:28):
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. What say you? Open up that iHeartRadio app,
(07:52):
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 week that are probably
(08:15):
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 really stood out to
(08:37):
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 even the worst amount of
(08:58):
money that left LA Counties 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. We'll talk about why that's
(09:20):
all coming up this hour, 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.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
You're 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 LPD 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
they fire a beanbag at you or rubber bullet or
something like that. They're not supposed to be doing it
a 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.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Law enforcement relates to that.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I think the City Attorney's officers is trying to respond
to that. But as the member said.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
It's appropriate for.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
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 that point to
the City Attorney in a way that's public and on
(12:20):
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 a 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 rushed to push this through. City Councilman Monic Rodriguez,
(12:53):
who is no fan of the executive branch in 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 9 (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 is 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, unses 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 request 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.
Speaker 7 (15:13):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
That was in response to anticipated potential unruliness at the
No King's protests today, but it was born out of
that lawsuit that followed the immigration related protests back in June,
and the city Council did take another action related to
support of the legal immigrants in LA this week. They've
(15:35):
called for a 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.
(15:56):
The Community Investment 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
(16:16):
come up with informational stickers and posters that can be
attached on the 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
(16:39):
department to come 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 in
(17:01):
court proceedings 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
(17:24):
Trump administration's 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
(17:46):
has been pushing 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
(18:07):
it used to have, 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
(18:29):
declared by a four to one vote. The opposition vote
came from Supervisor Catherine Barker, who happens to be the
chair of the La County Board of Supervisors this year.
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
(18:49):
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.
Declaring a local emergency is not the right or responsible
way to respond to that. She says. Emergency powers exist
(19:10):
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 are welcome
on that issue, as well as today's no Kings protests
(19:33):
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. It
looks like it's a mess, and money, your money is
flying out of that government building. That's what we're going
(19:55):
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
right now? Meanwhile, in South Bend, Indiana, the Notre Dame
of Firing Fighting Irish ranked thirteenth. They 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
(20:51):
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, 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
(21:14):
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 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
(21:39):
we know that LA County spends a lot on homelessness,
The City of Los Angeles spends a lot on homelessness.
Quasi government agencies formed between them and otherwise spend a
lot on homelessness. And this is certainly going to 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
(22:02):
more sex abuse claims coming down the pike. They already
settled for four billion. There's more than eight hundred million
dollars more on the dock at Monday, and the county CEO,
Fecia Davenport, who has warned us all about LA County's
(22:23):
challenging financial outlook, specifically citing the cost of legal settlements,
has just pocketed a two million dollar legal 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
(22:46):
involving homeless funds, there were a variety of different people
that were floating through folks minds. Who is it? Who
is it? Will turn out to be a couple of
guys you probably have never heard of. This is what
the Acting US Attorney Bill Sally had to say this
week about these two indictments.
Speaker 10 (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 Lad 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 person.
The other guy is Steven Taylor. He's forty four's from Brentwood.
He faces seven counts of bank fraud, one count of
(25:46):
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 properties
(26:12):
in Silver Lake, Los Felis, 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, Wininguart,
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. But I want you
to hear from Tyler Hatcher, an investigator with the IRS,
because as shocking as you may think the charges are.
I thought this was more shocking.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
The City and County of Los Angeles have been played
by deficient programs set up to address homelessness. Businessmen, realtters, 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 Hakman. He says 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 11 (29:08):
These are county employees who were employed at.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
The time, full time by either the.
Speaker 11 (29:13):
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 were entitled to this relief.
Speaker 12 (29:31):
And in that.
Speaker 11 (29:32):
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. By twelve of the
thirteen of the people who are charge listed nothing. They
didn't list the county, and the other person didn't list
(29:54):
the county as well, listed a different unemployment or listed
the fact that they had been terminated by the county
at the time they are 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
arrests 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. So if
you miss any 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
(32:54):
on whatever we're talking about today. We will check in
with some 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 2 (33:22):
You have a nice evening too. 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. Let's hear now from Ellie.
Speaker 12 (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. Yeah. Uh, 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
(34:02):
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 7 (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 2 (34:29):
Thanks bye, Thanks Mark. 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.
(34:51):
The county has 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
(35:11):
county's finances for a long time. But then in 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,
went up to government buildings, found people down on their
lock and said hey, why don't you come claim sex
(35:32):
abuse and we'll throw you some bocks. 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
(35:55):
is there's now more claims coming 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
(36:16):
La County Board of Supervisors. 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 14 (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
to two eighteen settlement, the costliest in county history. In response,
we are making three percent cuts and departmental budgets, eliminating
hundreds of vacant physicians, and trimming millions of dollars from
services and supplies.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
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.
(37:40):
Right now, 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
(38:00):
one of the most powerful positions in the state of California.
Right now, the County CEO f you SA Davenport, and
all of our predecessors, they're appointed, but voters decided that
Measure G was a good idea, and we'll we'll, we'll
elect a county CEO. PCA Davenport says that the language
in Measure G caused her reputational harm, embarrassment, and physical,
(38:28):
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 LAist
who reported this first. This thing was finalized in mid
August and we just learned about it didn't go through
(38:51):
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 as part of that celebration.
(39:12):
Gas prices are going down everywhere, all across the country
except one place. 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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