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Ex-LA utility head admits taking bribes in billing scandal

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Reed Saxon/AP
FILE - FBI agents leave the headquarters of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power after spending several hours inside the building on July 22, 2019. David Wright, the former head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation's largest public utility, has agreed to plead guilty to taking bribes in a corruption scandal that grew out of an automated billing disaster that stuck ratepayers with exorbitant bills, federal prosecutors said Monday, Dec. 6, 2021. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti removed Wright from his job in 2019 after the FBI raided the water and power department and other city offices, months before his expected departure date. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
Los Angeles Utility Corruption
Posted at 11:17 AM, Dec 08, 2021
and last updated 2021-12-08 14:17:45-05

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The former head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has agreed to plead guilty to taking bribes in a corruption scandal.

Federal prosecutors said Monday that David Wright will plead guilty to one count of bribery and has admitted other corrupt acts.

Wright was the top executive of the nation’s largest public utility during a billing fiasco that stuck hundreds of thousands of customers with excessively high bills.

Prosecutors say Wright accepted bribes from a lawyer hired to help resolve that crisis.

They also say Wright pushed through a $30 million no-bid contract for the lawyer's company without revealing how he would benefit.

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