judge lets former city attorney official walk

rejecting calls for jail time, a judge who had difficulty understanding the damage caused by LADWP corruption gave probation to former city attorney official thomas peters.

Thomas Peters, credit: Josh Cain/LA Daily News

As head of the civil litigation branch inside the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office, Thomas Peters supervised over 100 lawyers handling business, employment and police liability cases. With a law degree from Duke University, a Pacific Palisades zip code and a judge wife, Peters could do just about anything. And on Tuesday morning his privilege allowed him to avoid prison time in-connection with a hush money payment he directed while at the city attorney’s office.

U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld took a look at his elite credentials and basically said, “privilege is awesome. I don’t see what all the fuss is about. And so somewhat unconfidently, the judge sentenced the 57-year old Peters to three years of probation, including nine months of home detention, and fined him $50,000 after Peters pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting extortion related to the collusive Antwon Jones v. City of Los Angeles billing lawsuit. Peters’ conduct involved ordering then-private city attorney Paul Kiesel to pay off Kiesel’s former employee, who threatened to expose the Jones lawsuit as collusive. Peters is the highest-level official in the city attorney’s office to be sentenced in-connection with the collusive Los Angeles Department of Water and Power litigation, but it could all end here. These people live different lives from us. It’s a group text that regular people are not invited to.

While the judge acknowledged some of the scope of LADWP corruption, he admittedly had a hard time legally calculating it. When he did, he seemed to downplay what the hush payment concealed. And ultimately its impact didn’t seem to substantially factor into his sentencing, which was well below the 18 months of jail time prosecutors recommended and 41 months of jail time sought by probation.

“I’ve struggled with this,” said Blumenfeld, himself a former federal prosecutor and Big Law attorney. “Because my inclination in a case like this is a custodial sentence…And his wrongdoing in the case, that to me, is ultimately what tips it. Although I will tell you, it barely tips it in my mind, but I haven’t been persuaded to go differently.”

Blumenfeld said Peters did not initiate the collusive Jones scheme, but that “his role was to conceal it” by fighting discovery efforts in court out of “fear of losing his position as chief of the civil litigation branch.”

“He was not the architect," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Har.

Blumenfeld also focused narrowly on the Jones matter, highlighting a finding by replacement class counsel Kabateck LLP that determined the Jones settlement, aside from attorney fees, was “fair and reasonable.”

“A collusive agreement that is fair and reasonable…” is “rather strange,” observed the judge.

At no point did the judge mention the court-appointed special master’s report into LADWP, which determined a number of attorneys working for the city committed numerous ethical violations, including concealing from the court and plaintiff Antwon Jones that the city played both sides of the lawsuit. The judge did not take into account the hundreds of millions of dollars the collusion and subsequent cover up has cost taxpayers, including a $2.5 million sanction issued against city lawyers.

Blumenfeld did make reference to other actors, saying this wasn’t about just one lawyer, but “a number of lawyers that are being investigated and certainly ought to be investigated.” He also said Peters is testifying against “high-profile people in the city of LA.”

“This is a much more concerted, prolonged effort…to conceal a fraud on the court by a lot of people,” said the judge.

The status of the government’s criminal investigation is unclear. The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined comment following the hearing.

With his white collar criminal defense lawyer by his side, Peters said he’ll grapple with his decision for the rest of his life. “I was fearful…I thought I was solving someone else’s problem but then it became my problem.”

His sentencing has been 12 months in the making as a State Bar investigation coalesces around a number of attorneys involved with the litigation. Part of the sentencing credit Peters received was as a result of his “extensive cooperation” with the State Bar’s investigation, according to the judge.

Who directed Peters?

During a meeting on Dec. 1, 2017, prosecutors said “senior members of the City Attorney’s Office” were the ones who “directed [Mr. Peters] to take care of the situation.” Peters let Kiesel know, as well as his co-counsel, Paul Paradis, texting Paradis, “Mike is not firing anyone at this point. But he is far from happy about the prospect of a sideshow,” according to texts in a Paradis ethics complaint. Peters’ boss, of course, was then-City Attorney Mike Feuer.

Prosecutors said Peters ordered Kiesel to resolve the situation, even if it meant paying the demand. If he didn’t, Peters would seek to get Kiesel fired.

“I need you to take care of this,” Peters wrote to Kiesel, who ultimately paid and then secured a confidentiality agreement. The collusion remained under wraps for another year and no one informed the judge or the plaintiff in the matter.

Kiesel, who has maintained it was the city that was in control and authorized the filing of the collusive Jones lawsuit, hasn’t been charged, and he is considered a victim in the eyes of prosecutors.

I asked Peters which senior city officials ordered him to take care of the payment, but he declined comment.

Revolving door

After the hearing Peters embraced his wife, Elaine Mandel, a superior court judge who sits in Santa Monica. It’s worth noting the connection between Mandel, Peters and Kiesel. Peters’ and Kiesel’s relationship didn’t start with the LADWP billing matter. Peters worked at Kiesel’s firm, Kiesel Law, as a partner prior to getting hired by Feuer to supervise civil cases for him at the city attorney’s office. And Peters’ wife worked at Kiesel’s firm before she was appointed to the bench. Kiesel, meanwhile, has been active in California legal circles over the past 20 years, including a stint as the president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Multiple judges, including Peters’ wife, lined up to give character references for Peters, but judicial ethics rules barred them from doing so unless the judge asked for a reference. Peters received 30 letters of support in total, which also included state bar trial counsel.

The judge rejected a letter co-signed by four area neighborhood groups asking the judge to impose a sentence closer to 51 months, calling the 18-month recommendation by prosecutors a “sweetheart deal.” The judge rejected that letter, saying it wasn’t clear to him that all the names consented to be on the letter.

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