A Hollywood real estate investor was fined $17,000 for violating campaign finance limits by over-donating to City Council member Mitch O’Farrell’s campaign four years ago, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The relationship between O’Farrell and the investor, Leeor Maciborski, remains unclear, but the latter repeatedly scheduled meetings with the council member and even asked him to write letters of recommendation for university programs, including an MBA program at London Business School — a task that O’Farrell delegated to a staffer.
Maciborski reportedly made the donations through a series of limited liability companies tied to his buildings in East Hollywood and Los Feliz. His donations exceeded city limits by $3,000, a city investigation found.
A spokesperson for O’Farrell told the Times he was not aware that the companies from which he received donations were all connected.
Last fall, a Times investigation found that 100 donors connected to developer Samuel Leung contributed more than $600,000 to the campaigns of numerous local politicians. [LAT] — Cathaleen Chen