Richard Alatorre

Alatorre, an influential former state Assembly member who served on the council from 1985 to 1999, was a registered ADI lobbyist from 2007 through last year. He raised part of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions ADI subcontractors gave to elected officials in Los Angeles and Sacramento, according to records and interviews. Two years after he resigned from the City Council, Alatorre pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion for failing to report receiving nearly $42,000 in payments from people who sought political influence. The politically connected firm at the heart of the scandal, Los Angeles-based Advanced Development and Investment, is under scrutiny from the FBI, the IRS and the U.S. attorney's office. ADI also has been sued by the cities of Los Angeles and Glendale, which say the company inflated its bills for taxpayer-financed housing projects.