David H. Wright, Bribery, California 2023

LOS ANGELES, California – Former LADWP general manager David H. Wright, 62, of Riverside, was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison for accepting bribes from a lawyer in exchange for his official action to secure a three-year, $30 million no-bid LADWP contract for the lawyer’s company.

Wright pleaded guilty on January 25 to one count of bribery. He served as LADWP’s general manager from September 2016 until July 2019, when he resigned at the direction of the mayor of Los Angeles.

According to the investigation, Wright developed a relationship with Paul O. Paradis, 58, a lawyer appointed by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office to represent LADWP. In exchange for Wright’s support of a no-bid $30 million contract for Paradis’s company Aventador Utility Services LLC, Paradis agreed to give Wright a $1 million-per-year job as Aventador’s CEO and a luxury company car once Wright retired from LADWP.

Wright lobbied members of the LADWP board of directors to vote in favor of the contract, despite the board not being informed of his illegal agreement with Paradis. After the contract was awarded, Wright continued to collaborate with Paradis to build and market Aventador’s services.

Wright was sentenced by United States District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr., who described Wright’s conduct as “egregious” and motivated by “pure greed.” Judge Blumenfeld also ordered Wright to pay a fine of $75,000.

“This ongoing criminal case has placed a spotlight on public corruption that harmed ratepayers while benefiting dishonest officials and unscrupulous lawyers,” said United States Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison.

“This case highlights the lack of oversight for a $30 million contract and the inexcusable silencing of whistleblowers, amounting to a gross misuse of Mr. Wright’s position and a violation of the public’s trust,” said Kristi K. Johnson, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

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