In 1997, the LA METRO Board decided to eliminate their own police force in favor of contracting law enforcement services with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Los Angeles Police Department. The personnel from the disbanded force were split between the two agencies, with 60% going to LAPD, and the remaining 40% to the Sheriff’s Department.
Since then, the contract has been expanded to include the Long Beach Police Department, which patrols sections of the METRO line that traverses their jurisdiction.
I thought the agreement was a bad idea back then, and think it is an even greater boondoggle today.
As written, the contract called for the LASD to absorb a multitude of administrative and other costs, which to my mind were too high a price to pay. As I recall, then-sheriff Lee Baca was a proponent of the move, apparently more as a way to expand the Sheriff’s Department than to add any meaningful value to public transportation.
Over the ensuing years, the METRO line has come under increasingly harsh criticism for the dramatic rise in crime and the public perception that the system is patently unsafe for riders. To their credit, the staff of the LASD Transit Services Bureau (the bureau responsible for manning and patrolling the system) has done what it can to make the system safer.
Unfortunately, management directives from the METRO Board have made it increasingly difficult for law enforcement to do their jobs properly.
Back in March of this year, the METRO Board made it crystal clear they are angling to once again re-create their own police agency. As part of this plan, they voted to allow METRO CEO Stephanie Wiggins the authority to renew the law enforcement contract on an annual basis for up to a 3-year period. It is during this period that METRO will evaluate how to plan and fund their new agency. As such, the already tenuous relationship between METRO and the LASD has become even more strained.
It is with this in mind that I believe it is high time that the LASD take the steps necessary to terminate their involvement in the METRO contract as soon as humanly possible. I believe that under the contract requirements, the LASD needs to give METRO 6 months’ notice of their intent to terminate. I say do it now. There is absolutely no reason not to make this preemptive move.
What will this do for the LASD? Other than to get out of an untenable, abusive relationship, the immediate benefit would be that the department would be able to transfer 330 personnel, 290 being sworn peace officers, to other patrol stations throughout the county. Imagine, having the ability to infuse high quality, patrol trained personnel directly into line spots to help alleviate the suffocating shortages of personnel in patrol stations, countywide. There would be no need to recruit and train these 290 sworn personnel. With recruitment costs averaging $125K per deputy, it is a huge up-front savings.
This is one of those situations where the LASD needs to just rip off the band aid and move on. It has become increasingly clear that members of the METRO Board are anti-cop and anti-LASD. Dump them now and leave them to their own devices. There is no reason for the department to hang around and wait for the inevitable.
Shockwaves reverberated throughout Washington DC and across the nation, when it was leaked by a source within the White House that Phillip Washington was withdrawing his nomination to become head of the FAA.
Last July, President Biden chose Washington to head the Federal Aviation Administration, all the while knowing he did not possess the knowledge or experience in aviation, had been involved in and/or the subject of multiple federal investigations and was currently under criminal investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The story begins in 2017, sexual harassment allegations against Alex Wiggans, Chief of Systems Security and Law Enforcement were brought by LA Metro employee Sandra Solis, a nepotism hire by Washington. During the investigation into the sexual harassment by Wiggans, investigators asked Jennifer Loew, then Special Projects Manager, about Solis and nepotism at LA Metro.
Sandra Solis filed sexual harassment complaints against Alan Wiggans in 2017.Former LA Metro nepotism hire, Alex Wiggans.
Loew provided investigators with the names of Jon Gordon, Harold Martin, Patricia Martin and Ashely Martin, all nepotism hires who received direct appointments by Washington, along with special compensation (at the objection of LA Metro’s HR) in amounts that could lead to indictments of Washington for Grand Theft.
Unbeknownst to Loew, her testimony related to Washington’s nepotism hiring were not kept confidential and OIG Karen Gorman provided Washington with the details of Loew’s testimony.
Subsequent to receiving Loew’s testimony, Washington met with nepotism-hire Gordon and manufactured allegations of misconduct against Loew. Following that meeting, Washington took decisive action to protect his acts of nepotism and launched an HR investigation of Loew. Additionally, Washington took further adverse actions removing Loew’s staff without any evidence of misconduct and placing her office on the first floor parking garage.
In retrospect, the meeting Washington took with Gordon led to a four years of on-going retaliation against Loew. The irony is that Washington chose the one employee at LA Metro whose husband ran a public corruption firm and had the resources and contacts to expose Washington’s misconduct. One of the most interesting aspects of this case is that Jennifer Loew represented herself for most of it with the help of her husband.
As a result of the well-documented harassment, Loew sued L.A. Metro and was awarded $620,000 in restitution, after facing off against Sheppard Mullin, an International Law Firm at which former DA Robert Philibosian is a partner. “It was a losing battle from the start for the Phil Washington, LA Metro, and the LA Metro Board in the courtroom. The court ruled 100% of the time in Jennifer’s favor after Sheppard Mullin unleashed a barrage of Law And Motion filings” said Adam Loew. “I believe the problem was that the mainstream media are so intrenched and dependent on the access to the Sheila Kuehl and the rest of the Metro Board, that they were unwilling to jeopardize those relationships to report the truth about corruption in Los Angeles” he continued.
As a result of the well-documented harassment, Loew sued L.A. Metro and was awarded $620,000 in restitution.
The Power of the Pursuit
I was contacted by Jennifer Loew’s husband Adam, the CEO of the highly reputable A-Team Advocacy Group, a Political Strategy, Advocacy and Political Corruption firm, in September of 2020, after he was sent a link to a story I wrote about corruption between the District Attorney’s office and Malibu City Council.
Loew presented me with multiple stories of fraud, waste and abuse, discrimination, sexual misconduct, public corruption, negligence and more.
Loew explained to me that he relentlessly pursued press and other than the Pay-to-Play contract with Peace Over Violence story released by Bill Melugin (when we was still at FOX LA), none of the mainstream media he approached was willing to take on the important stories detailing the public corruption and other alleged criminal activity at L.A.Metro. In fact, one journalist was threatened by Kuehl if he continued to pursue the alleged illegal conduct at L.A. Metro – especially involving Kuehl or her close friends and colleagues.
One story regarding Jennifer Lowe’s harassment by Washington made Spectrum News, but the more important stories involving nepotism, fraud, waste and abuse, discrimination, neglect etc… was turned down, disregarded or blatantly misreported by local news outlets. Mainstream national media couldn’t be bothered on any level, at any time, over the three years of covering this story until *after* the warrants were served on September 14th, 2022 (more on that later).
Within 48 hours of publishing, not one, but two, federal investigations were opened with the help of a local journalist (who I prefer not name for obvious reasons as they are employed by a major news organization), who forwarded my article to one of his contacts at the FDA. The agent contacted me and introduced me to his colleague at Homeland Security.
Just 6 weeks later, after the 2020 Presidential election, we learned that, knowingly or unknowingly, then President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris chosen embattled LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington to lead the new administration’s transition team for Transportation. A rather controversial choice as Washington was involved in multiple federal, state, local and internal L.A. Metro investigations involving allegations of criminal conduct at the time pursued diligently by Adam Loew, who was bounced back and forth multiple times between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, until he finally got through to an investigator at the LASD that was willing to take a serious look at the case(s) in 2019.
A screen shot from the Biden-Harris Transition Team Website in 2020.
At the time of Washington’s appointment as the head of the Biden-Harris Transportation Transition Team and concerned Washington would be appointed Transportation Secretary under the new administration, Adam Loew spoke with the lead investigator at the LASD Public Corruption Unit working on the case, who in turn who spoke with the FBI.
Thankfully, given Washington’s legal entanglements, pursued by Loew, he was unable to pass the vetting process to become transportation secretary which has a more thorough vetting process given the close proximity the position has to the President.
That was the first win.
On February 19, 2021, after a two-year investigation, the Los County Sheriff’s Department, served criminal warrants to LA Metro, the LA Metro Office of Inspector General and Peace Over Violence over allegations of Fraud, Waste and Abuse, Public Corruption and Pay to Play between Peace Over Violence CEO Patti Giggans, LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington, Washington’s Chief of Staff Nadine Lee, former New Orleans RTA CEO Alex Wiggins and LA Metro Executive Officer Aston Greene III.
That was the second, hard-fought, win. However, given the craftiness of L.A. Metro, Kuehl and Giggans, the warrants stayed in court for close to a year.
The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword
I continued to work with exclusively with Loew on multiple stories , indexing more content on the internet showcasing Washington’s alleged criminal conduct while we were waiting for the warrants to finally be free of the court process and executed.
On July 18th, I received an email from an investigator at the American Accountability Foundation, a watchdog organization who works closely with officials on Capitol Hill requesting my help providing additional documents related to my articles.
The investigator told me in a follow-up phone conversation that as soon as Washington’s nomination was announced, he started his research on him and told me that I was the only reporter documenting Washington’s on-going criminal conduct and asked me for my help.
From there, I provided him with all the documents and evidence I had accumulated and connected him with Adam Loew to provide any additional information he needed. Simultaneously, Loew was contacting members of Congress and the Senate to make them aware of Washington’s criminal investigations and forwarded them links to my articles.
During this time, Adam Loew also forwarded me a glowing article about Washington’s nomination published by the Washington Post. I was floored given the conversation I had recently had with the investigator at the American Accountability Foundation, who found all of my articles exposing Washington’s alleged illegal activities with ease, as there wasn’t much being published about Washington at the time (pre-executed warrants). It was obvious the reporter a.) did not do any research about Washington’s past and b.) was assigned to do nothing more than a fluff piece. Loew then contacted the reporter to inform her of Washington’s activities. She chose not update her article.
I cannot stress enough, that not one major news organization inquired with the whistleblowers, or myself, or reported on the criminal activity involving the Biden nominee to head the FAA. NOT ONE –until *after* the warrants were executed.
The Downward Spiral
On September 13th, 2022, I received word the warrants were going to be executed the next morning. I was told to arrive at L.A. Metro Headquarters shortly before dawn.
I arrived at LA Metro Headquarters and a few minutes after 7:00 a.m., deputies arrived to seize documents and evidence related to the criminal investigation regarding the Pay-to-Play no-bid contracts involving Peace Over Violence and then-Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.
By now, Phil Washington’s nomination to become head of the FAA had become a national story, yet, while local news stations and publications were posted outside the homes of Kuehl and Patti Giggans, the CEO of Peace Over Violence, I was the only reporter outside of L.A. Metro capturing footage of the warrants being executed that named Washington, the Biden nominee to become head of the FAA.
My footage and my tweets were used by multiple news organizations around the country and then, and only then, did the media start acknowledging Washington’s potential criminal involvement.
“When Mr. Washington was nominated in July, I expressed my skepticism surrounding his lack of experience in aviation. Now I am deeply troubled to learn the nominee was named in a search warrant that ties him to allegations of corruption at LA Metro,” Wicker said. “The committee’s vetting process will require additional scrutiny and review into his leadership at LA Metro. I anticipate that this nominee’s credibility will also be a key focus of the committee.”
National news couldn’t avoid the elephant in the room any longer and stories started to trickle out into mainstream media, however, they still lacked the in-depth reporting needed to truly tell the story of years of alleged misconduct and illegal activities Washington was involved in.
A week later, Loew held a press conference detailing more corruption, fraud, abuse and waste regarding multiple LA politicians and this time the press showed up, but zero follow-through on the information Loew released.
I continued to work with Loew on stories about Washington that were never released to add to the catalogue of work we had created to support the criminal case (now in the hands of the Attorney General) and document Washington’s incompetence and negligence in hopes of impacting his nomination.
Simultaneously, Loew was being interviewed by members of the Senate on Commerce, Science and Transportation. His first meeting Senator Cantwell’s staff did not go over so well as her staff was completely unconcerned about Washington’s criminal investigation or his well-documented negligent and egregious acts.
While Cantwell was pushing for a January confirmation hearing for Washington, Senator Wicker, who was the ranking member on the Senate to confirm Washington had switched roles. Senator Ted Cruz was now the Ranking Member and his office reached out to Adam Loew at the end of January.
I was included in the emails.
The due diligence by Senator Wicker’s team and Ted Cruz’s team working behind the scenes with the whistleblowers to further expose Washington’s involvement in multiple criminal investigations and virtually no knowledge of aviation safety (the last year at Denver International Airport his only experience in the aviation industry) and confirming the status of the criminal investigation with the California Attorney General’s office, was critical.
Cruz’s well publicized grilling of Washington, due to the effective research and outreach by his staff, was essential to turning the opinions around of the Senate, which included Democrats.
Senator Cruz then went on the record to inform President Biden that the “votes were not there” to push the Washington nomination through and the President needs to go shopping for another nominee.
On March 25th, confirmed via Senator Cantwell and Transportation Secretary Pete-Buttigieg-sore-loser-style. Washington was officially taking his =hat out of the ring.
The “Republican attacks” narrative the sore-loser-brigade is selling on mainstream media is far from the reality of what it took to take the Biden nominee down.
This was a three-year, roll-your-up-your-sleeves and never-give-up grass roots effort by those of us dedicated to the pursuit of truth and justice, including the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department under former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, whose Public Corruption team worked diligently on the case and secured the warrants critical to Washington’s downfall, along with the on-going, thorough investigative reporting, follow-up and personal outreach to -and from – Washington DC leaders.
That my friends, is the anatomy of the Phil Washington takedown.
This is an exclusive report for The Current Report and TNT Radio airing on 1/20/23
The LBTGQ, Jewish and Latino communities may be facing major issues with discrimination as New York Senator Chuck Schumer has called for the expedited confirmation of Biden nominee and embattled former LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington to be the new FAA Administrator.
Washington made national headlines when he was named in criminal warrants executed on September 14th, 2022. At press time, Washington is still under criminal investigation by the California Department of Justice. If confirmed as FAA Administrator, it is possible that Washington could be indicted and extradited back to California to face criminal charges.
In addition to Washington’s criminal troubles, it has become of significant concern that Biden’s Nominee lacks the experience to run the FAA, given the current state of the agency, with leadership in limbo since March, 2022.
The 2022 winter holiday travel chaos caused by winter storms and the unprecedented last minute cancellation of all flights by Southwest Airlines left thousands of stranded and disgruntled passengers. One airport specifically, Denver International, run by the hand-picked Biden FAA nominee, bore the brunt of it.
On January 11th, he aviation industry was dealt another blow when a nationwide ground stop was forced due to a computer outage.
The 90-minute halt to all U.S. departing flights, reportedly due to a computer issue, resulted in approximately 10,000 flights delayed and over 1,300 canceled according to FlightAware, the first since in two decades, similar to the 9/11 terror attacks.
The computer issue had prevented airports from filing updated safety notices that warn pilots of potential hazards such as runway closures, poor weather and construction, bringing flights to a temporary halt.
Republican Rep. Sam Graves, the new chair of the House transportation committee and a pilot, issued a strong statement against the FAA, saying this outage “highlights a huge vulnerability in our air transportation system.”
Scott Kirby, the CEO of United Airlines said Wednesday that other airlines won’t be able to handle all the flights they plan to operate this year, leading to more disruptions for travelers. Kirby said if airlines continue to operate as if this is still 2019, before the pandemic, they are bound to struggle. He said the industry is dealing with a shortage of pilots and other workers, outdated technology and strain on the Federal Aviation Administration, which manages the nation’s airspace.
“The system simply can’t handle the volume today, much less the anticipated growth,” Kirby said. “There are a number of airlines who cannot fly their schedules. The customers are paying the price.”
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
While NY Senator Chuck Schumer and Commerce Committee Chairman Maria Cantwell willfully ignore the importance Washington’s lack of experience with a crippled FAA in desperate need of restructuring which should be a monumental roadblock in the nomination process alone, Schumer and Cantwell also continue to overlook the criminal warrants, calling them “baseless” (to date, the California Department of Justice has not cleared Washington of wrongdoing). However, the criminal warrants naming Washington immediately was serious enough to prompt Senator Robert Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to release a statement contacting The Current Report shortly before its official release:
“When Mr. Washington was nominated in July, I expressed my skepticism surrounding his lack of experience in aviation. Now I am deeply troubled to learn the nominee was named in a search warrant that ties him to allegations of corruption at LA Metro,” Wicker said. “The committee’s vetting process will require additional scrutiny and review into his leadership at LA Metro. I anticipate that this nominee’s credibility will also be a key focus of the committee.”
Criminal warrants served to LA Metro on September 14th, 2022 naming FAA nominee Phillip Washington.The Current Report was the only media on scene at LA Metro while the warrants were being served by LA County Sheriff’s Department on September 14th, 2022.
Now, to add to the laundry list, we have an undisputed fact discrimination at Los Angeles Metro was rampant under Washington and the agency was forced to pay out millions of dollars to former Metro employees as a result of Washington engaging in racism and discrimination against Jews, AAPI, Latinos and the LGBTQ+ Communities which they are also blatantly ignoring.
A LA Metro, a Senior Executive Officer close to Nalini Ahuja, Chief Financial Officer at LA Metro, on the condition of anonymity, told The Current Report “LA Metro is paying more than $250,000 of taxpayer funds per lawsuit to attorneys just to defend against retaliation, racism and discrimination claims during the time that Washington was LA Metro CEO.”
That figure does not include the cost of the internal investigations by private attorneys that took place related to allegations of misconduct by Washington. Nor does it take into account the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are being paid out in settlements.
In November of 2022, Cantwell’s staff was informed of allegations of Fraud, Waste, and Abuse of Taxpayer funds, public corruption, gender discrimination, racial discrimination and now LBGTQ discrimination.
The information related to these allegations of Phillip Washington’s misconduct was not well received by Cantwell’s staff and therefore disregarded as the Senator was looking for an expedited confirmation process after the roadblocks from Washington’s on-going local and federal criminal investigations which has significantly impacted and stalled the confirmation process.
During the November 2022 meeting, Cantwell’s staff was informed of the lawsuit filed by Transgender, LA Metro employee Jess Reynolds.
LA Metro employee Jess Reynolds
Reynold is a transgender woman who identifies as a man, who alleged in a lawsuit in the Superior Court of CA Full Complaint sexual orientation discrimination during Phillip Washington’s time as CEO of LA Metro. Reynolds alleged that he informed then LA Metro Chief Civil Rights Officer and Chief Ethics Officer Jonaura Wisdom, a close advisor to Phillip Washington of the sexual orientation discrimination.
Wisdom reportedly opted to send Reynolds to the Reparative Therapy Center. According to the lawsuit, in the waiting room of the Reparative Center Washington’s team required Reynolds to attend, there was anti-LGBTIQ propaganda, which highlighted the “Evils of Homosexuality.”
Whistleblower and Public Corruption Specialist Adam Loew, CEO of A-Team Advocacy Group informed Washington and LA Metro officials of Reynold’s experience at the center.
“In my opinion what Phillip Washington, Jonaura Wisdom and the LA Metro Board of Directors allowed to happen to Jess Reynolds was unacceptable and quite frankly, disgusting. What makes it even more egregious is that Washington, Wisdom, and the LA Metro Board knew what was happening and chose to do nothing” Loew told The Current Report. “Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and Council Member Mike Bonin, both openly gay and LGBTQ advocates, sat on the LACMTA Board and allowed the discrimination to take place unabated.”
Shortly after Washington’s departure from LA Metro, the LA Metro Board agreed to pay Jess Reynolds $735,000 dollars to settle the case.
The vote to pay out Reynolds. “EG” is Eric Garcetti, “SK” is Sheila Kuehl, “MB” is Mike Bonin.
The settlement with Reynolds involves another embattled LA Nominee, former mayor Eric Garcetti who Biden tapped to be Ambassador to India and has encountered numerous roadblocks as well getting to the confirmation process.
“Garcetti was also involved in Reynolds settlement and sat quietly on the LA Metro Board ignoring repeated requests for assistance from Metro employees who were being harassed by Washington.” said Loew “Garcetti will likely face scrutiny for ignoring of Transgender discrimination during Garcetti’s time on the LA Metro Board on top of the sexual harassment scandal of Rick Jacobs, his top aide.” Loew continues “I hope that Reynolds can find a way to put the discrimination by Phillip Washington and LA Metro officials behind him. Unfortunately, the emotional impact of Washington’s misconduct cannot be rectified with money.”
What is behind Biden, Cantwell and Schumer’s push for Washington as FAA Chief?
His lack of experience in aviation and failed leadership at LA Metro are monumental hurdles to cast aside. Add the on-going criminal investigations for fraud, waste, abuse and now millions paid out in discrimination settlements Washington is clearly unfit to head the FAA.
Thankfully, Senator Wicker continues to be extremely vocal about requesting Biden put forth a new nominee after the holiday travel turmoil and the recent ground stop.
“President Biden’s pick to lead @FAANews, has no safety or aviation experience. We can’t leave the flying public’s wellbeing up to chance. We need a new nominee.”
*This story is an exclusive for The Current Report and TNT Radio originally airing on 12/28/22.
Over the Christmas holiday, air travelers scrambled amidst the chaos of winter storms and the unprecedented last minute cancellation of all flights by Southwest Airlines. , the result was thousands of stranded and disgruntled passengers. And now it looks like the future of the FAA, without leadership since March, looks even more bleak as embattled former LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington’s nomination to head the agency will be back on the president’s desk.
The sea of luggage belonging to stranded passengers. Ironically, this photo, posted by Brittany Cristiano is at Denver International Airport where Biden FAA nominee is the current CEO.
Biden hand-picked Washington in July to head the FAA despite the knowledge of multiple on-going local and federal criminal investigations which have resulted in setbacks and lengthening the confirmation process.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, who heads the panel that overseas the FAA, said she planned to hold a hearing for the current Denver International Airport CEO to head the FAA after the new Congress convenes in January. However, before those hearings can take place, under Senate Rule 31, Biden will have to renominate Washington.
“The F.A.A. has a crucial safety mandate, and filling this role remains a serious priority for the Biden administration,” said White House spokeswoman, Olivia Dalton. Yet the agency continues to go without leadership going on a year now.
Washington’s history with the Biden administration goes back to 2020 where he lead the transition team for Transportation, which included the FAA, with no aviation experience at the time. Only in the past year has he delved into the industry sliding into the CEO spot Denver’s International Airport. To many, including members of the Senate Committee (other than Cantwell) Washington’s lack of experience presents numerous red flags when considering the experience of former heads of the FAA who have been CEOs of major airlines and/or have extensive aviation experience in the military.
Aside from Washington’s troubling lack of aviation experience which is vital when you are responsible for the health and safety of millions of passengers, is the public corruption, fraud, abuse, and discrimination allegations.
On September 14th, as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department descended upon multiple locations serving criminal warrants including LA Metro Headquarters, mainstream media has led us to believe the corruption at LA Metro under Washington was merely a “dispute” between former LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and disgraced former supervisor Sheila Kuehl.
However, when we remove the false political narrative crafted by the White House under the President and in collaboration with current leaders in LA Politics including Barack Obama’s former labor secretary and current LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a bigger story of gender discrimination, anti-semitism and attacks against the LGBTQ and AAPI communities emerges.
The Current Report broke the story of the raids and the LA County Sheriff’s Department served criminal warrants on LA Metro Headquarters shortly after 7 AM.
Washington was named in the criminal warrants along with then LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and her friend and CEO of Peace Over Violence, Patti Giggans. The local criminal investigation spanning three-years under the supervision of Undersheriff Tim Murakami, resulted in Sheriff deputies executing warrants at multiple locations which included the homes of Supervisor Kuehl and Giggans. Deputies seized documents and evidence to support allegations of fraud, abuse and Pay-to-Play at LA Metro.
Multiple DC agencies and watchdog organizations reached out to The Current Report shortly after Washington’s nomination in July after making startling discoveries online of Washington’s alleged criminal activities including the counterfeit mask cover-up exposed by The Current Report. Our story led to two federal investigations.
“When Mr. Washington was nominated in July, I expressed my skepticism surrounding his lack of experience in aviation. Now I am deeply troubled to learn the nominee was named in a search warrant that ties him to allegations of corruption at LA Metro,” Wicker said. “The committee’s vetting process will require additional scrutiny and review into his leadership at LA Metro. I anticipate that this nominee’s credibility will also be a key focus of the committee.”
Washington, backed into a corner once the news of the warrants hit Washington DC, was confronted at the Air Line Pilots Association conference. “All the allegations are false,” he said. However, The Current Report published emails supporting Washington had knowledge of the Peace Over Violence contract contrary to his statement to the ALPA.
In July, when Washington’s confirmation was announced, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) made the following statement:
“America’s aviation industry is facing important challenges in a competitive global marketplace. Now more than ever, FAA must set the gold standard in aviation safety. This starts from the top. I expect and will require strong leadership from the next FAA Administrator. I look forward to careful consideration of Mr. Washington’s nomination during the confirmation process.”
On November 1st, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, who heads the panel that overseas the FAA met with whistleblowers regarding Phillip Washington’s alleged misconduct and corruption at LA Metro.
Despite being informed of additional allegations of gender discrimination, antisemitism and attacks on the LGBTQ and AAPI community during that meeting, Cantwell continued with her support for Washington and announced she planned to hold a hearing for Washington to head the FAA after the new Congress convenes in January.
Cantwell and her office seem to be unconcerned by Washington’s egregious behavior and during the meetings with the whistleblowers, Ronce Almond, Senior Counsel at the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee and the Subcommittee on Aviation equated the alleged gender discrimination against woman as “funny” even going as far as calling it “dark humor”.
“It is personally troubling that President Biden believes Washington is qualified to run the FAA, let alone mentally fit.” said whistleblower and Public Corruption Specialist Adam Loew. “The evidence that I have seen leads me to believe that Washington is anti-jew, anti-AAPI, anti-latino, anti-woman and anti-American family leader, who has been personally involved if defrauding that American taxpayer.” It is unfortunate that Senator Cantwell has condoned this behavior and while it looks as if Cantwell may be a friend of Israel for political gain, he behavior presents her as one of America’s anti-jewish senators. As for Ronce Almond expressing misogyny and gender discrimination is a joke or ‘dark humor’ only shows that Cantwell has no control over discrimination on Commerce”.
In July of 2021, attorneys for Phillip Washington threatened federal whistleblowers with a lawsuit in violation of California and federal anti-slapp laws for bringing misconduct to the attention of the media and authorities. In the letter, Washington’s lawyer also eludes to him suffering from “intentional infliction of emotional distress”.
Additionally, the letter indicates the whistleblowers “have caused publications falsely stating or implying that Mr. Washington was connected to or responsible for missing or misappropriated funds at LA Metro and the publication(s) have no factual support, are false, and violate the rights of Mr. Washington”.
The Current Report has been exposing the public corruption and discrimination under Washington at LA Metro since 2020 supported by documentation and evidence in each article contrary to the claims made by Washington’s lawyer in the letter. The Current Report has never received communication from Washington or his counsel, let alone a cease and desist.
To date, no litigation have been filed against the whistleblowers and they continue to cooperate with the Senate Committee exposing Washington’s criminal misconduct.
As previously reported in the Current Report, some of the allegations included that Washington may have been involved in the deaths of multiple bus drivers and train operators when he failed to replace counterfeit Personal Protection Equipment during the early days in the pandemic.
The counterfeit mask cover-up should serve as a reminder that Washington’s questionable decision making in public safety at LA Metro could lead larger scale disasters should he be confirmed to head the FAA.
In May of 2021, Washington left Los Angeles after his contract was not renewed by former mayor Eric Garcetti. Washington then slid into the CEO position at Denver International Airport despite the absence of aviation experience and after he lied to Denver City Council that he was not involved in warrants.
Had Denver officials had done their due diligence, they would have discovered Washington is no stranger to the criminal warrant process or federal indictments including in their own back yard.
Washington left his post as Denver RTD’s General Manager to join L.A. Metro as CEO in May of 2015, however, back at Denver RTD the consequences of Phillip Washington’s public corruption were leading to the imprisonment of one of Denver RTD’s Senior Leadership Team and a direct report of Washington.
Kenneth Hardin, Director of the Denver RTD Civil Rights Division, was convicted in February of 2015 on three counts related to accepting bribes in connection with his official duties as a senior manager at RTD and was sentenced to 18 Months in Federal Prison.
Federal Investigators were able to prove in Federal Court that that under Phillip Washington’s leadership at Denver RTD, Hardin had exchanged contracts for cash and Hardin had lobbied RTD to renew Access-a-Ride contracts in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
LASD seizing documents and evidence at LA Metro Headquarters September 14th, 2022
Last week, as a result of a criminal investigation spanning three-years, warrants were served at multiple locations, including the home of Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, LA Metro Headquarters and the home of Peace Over Violence CEO Patti Giggins, a close friend to Kuehl, to seize documents and evidence involved in Pay-To-play, Fraud, Waste and Abuse, among other alleged criminal acts.
While mainstream media is pushing the vendetta narrative high-lighting the contentious relationship between Sheriff Alex Villanueva and the Board of Supervisors, namely Sheila Kuehl, this criminal investigation, based on thousands of documents reviewed by The Current Report dating back to hotline scandal in 2020, could ultimately lead to former CEO Phillip Washington losing the Biden-backed nomination to become head of the FAA.
Former CEO Phillip Washington is going through the nomination process to become head of the FAA.
The whistle blowing at LA Metro began during the sexual harassment investigation of Alex Wiggans, Chief of Systems Security and Law Enforcement.
The allegations were brought by current LA Metro employee Sandra Solis, a nepotism hire by Washington. During the investigation into the sexual harassment by Alex Wiggans, investigators asked Jennifer Loew, Special Projects Manager, about Solis and nepotism at LA Metro.
LA Metro employee Sandra Solis.
Loew provided investigators with the names of Jon Gordon, Harold Martin, Patricia Martin and Ashely Martin, all nepotism hires who received direct appointments by Washington along with special compensation (at the objection of metro’s HR) in amounts that could lead to indictments of Washington for Grand Theft.
Unbeknownst to Loew, her testimony related to Washington’s nepotism hiring were not kept confidential and OIG Karen Gorman provided Washington with the details of Loew’s testimony.
Subsequent to receiving Loew’s testimony, Washington met with nepotism-hire Gordon and manufactured allegations of misconduct against Loew. Following that meeting, Washington took decisive action to protect his acts of nepotism and launched an HR investigation of Loew. Additionally, Washington took further adverse actions removing Loew’s staff without any evidence of misconduct and placing her office on the first floor parking garage.
In retrospect, the meeting Washington took with Gordon led to a four years of on-going retaliation against Loew. As a result of the well-documented harassment, Loew was awarded $620,000 in restitution.
However, the political entanglements in this case reaches far beyond this high-profile criminal investigation and reached far beyond the alleged dirty dealings dug up starting with the original LA Metro whistleblower.
Washington is now the second appointee from the LA political pool to humiliate Biden and his choices to run the FAA with Mayor Eric Garcetti taking the top spot as ambassador to represent the US in India.
However, the senate and DC watchdog groups are paying attention.
As a result of due diligence, investigations into Washington’s past as a result of the nomination process and now Washington being named in the criminal warrants, Senator Robert Wicker, the ranking member of the Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation released the following statement:
“When Mr. Washington was nominated in July, I expressed my skepticism surrounding his lack of experience in aviation. Now I am deeply troubled to learn the nominee was named in a search warrant that ties him to allegations of corruption at LA Metro,” Wicker said. “The committee’s vetting process will require additional scrutiny and review into his leadership at LA Metro. I anticipate that this nominee’s credibility will also be a key focus of the committee.”
The political entanglements, specifically the one involving those named in the warrants that made national news last week, reach far beyond the the scope of Pay-toPlay, fraud and abuse and while Kuehl, Giggans and Washington use smoke and mirrors to distract from the truth surrounding their actions, you can guarantee that smoke you’re seeing is actually a raging fire.
Shortly after the raid on Giggin’s and Kuehl’s homes, Giggin’s released this statement:
“On the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 14, a search warrant from the Los Angeles County Sheriff was executed at the headquarters of Peace Over Violence and the home of Patti Giggans, our Executive Director and Commissioner on the LA County Sheriff’s Civilian Oversight Commission (COC). The Sheriff removed items including desktop computers, our agency server, and Patti’s personal vehicle.Simultaneously, they also raided the home of LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, her offices at the Hall of Administration, and the LA Metro offices.
These actions are intended to disrupt Peace Over Violence and silence Patti Giggans and are due to the Sheriff’s ongoing personal political vendettas that have transpired publicly. Clearly, these bullying tactics are meant to intimidate anyone who has criticism of the Sheriff. We reject the attempt to defame the organization, its programming and values, its integrity and the integrity of its Executive Director/CEO.
Peace Over Violence and its Executive Director Patti Giggans are nationally recognized leaders in sexual and domestic violence with a reputation for providing responsive, quality services to survivors. We have partnered with law enforcement and government institutions for more than 51 years to fill the gaps that exist in supporting survivors including operating the nation’s first and longest running sexual assault and domestic violence hotline. Our hotlines are supported in part by government contracts, grants, and other donations. Our government contracts have all been fairly granted and followed the rules and protocols of the awarding agency.
Despite this event, Peace Over Violence remains committed to the work of providing a safe place, listening ear, and trauma informed wraparound services to individuals and families impacted by sexual and domestic violence in Los Angeles County.”
The Current Reporthas uncovered that the attempted (and failed) cover-ups of sexual assault aren’t exclusive to LA Metro.
Sebastian Ridley Thomas, the son of disgraced former L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas who is now facing approximately 20 plus counts, was an active Member of Patti Giggans Peace Over Violence Advisory Board, as was Kuehl along with Giggans wife Ellen Ledley, trauma therapist. Sebastian Ridley Thomas was under investigation by the California Assembly for sexual harassment while serving on the Peace Over Violence Advisory Board with Ledley.
Ridley-Thomas with Giggans at her event.
Equally disturbing is Giggans, rather than focusing on her mission to prevent sexual harassment, also got in bed (for lack of a better description) with the Garcetti administration, who is riddled with sexual harassment claims for which the United States Senate publicly stated Garcetti knew (or should have known) of the sexual harassment happening under his watch.
Unfortunately it is evident with all that is currently being uncovered, that Giggans is willing to sell out her organization’s vision for financial gain.
“As Patti Giggans role in the L.A. Metro scandal continues to unfold, it is likely that Giggin’s situation will continue to worsen” said Public Corruption expert Adam Loew whose wife is one of the whistleblowers of allegations of Public Corruption at L.A. Metro. “…what people don’t realize is that Metro is oneof many contracts that Kuehl brokered for Giggans.”
According to sources inside the White House, shortly after the LA County Sheriff’s Department served warrants at LA Metro headquarters Wednesday morning, members of the Secret Service delivered copies of the warrant to President Biden.
The reason for the high-profile hand-off? The warrants included former LA Metro CEO and FAA nominee Philip Washington.
Washington-based sources tell The Current Report, President Biden, after reviewing the documents, immediately ordered an investigation into why the FBI was not involved in the raids.
The local criminal investigation spanning three-years under the supervision of Undersheriff Tim Murakami, resulted in Sheriff deputies executing warrants at multiple locations which included the homes of Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and Peace Over Violence CEO, Patti Giggans.
At approximately 7:27 am Wednesday morning, Sheriff’s deputies gained entry into LA Metro Headquarters to seize documents and evidence associated with the Pay-to-Play and Public Corruption regarding the sole source contracts with Peace Over Violence and CEO Patti Giggans, a close friend of Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who is also under criminal investigation and named in the warrants.
Sheriff’s deputies arrive at LA Metro Headquarters shortly after 7 am , Wednesday September 14th. PHOTO: Cece Woods
Local media insisted on pushing Wednesday’s raids as the latest power-play by Sheriff Alex Villanueva and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, however, the bigger picture surrounding this investigation is far more than a local pissing match between the Sheriff and county officials.
Washington, currently the head of Denver International Airport, was named in the criminal warrants for his part in the fraud waste and abuse associated with a pay-to-play no-bid contract involving Peace Over Violence, Patti Giggins and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.
Multiple DC agencies and watchdog organizations reached out to The Current Report shortly after Washington’s nomination in July after making startling discoveries online of Washington’s alleged criminal activities including the counterfeit mask cover-up exposed by The Current Report. Our story led to two federal investigations opened within 24 hours publishing.
“When Mr. Washington was nominated in July, I expressed my skepticism surrounding his lack of experience in aviation. Now I am deeply troubled to learn the nominee was named in a search warrant that ties him to allegations of corruption at LA Metro,” Wicker said. “The committee’s vetting process will require additional scrutiny and review into his leadership at LA Metro. I anticipate that this nominee’s credibility will also be a key focus of the committee.”
Washington, backed into a corner once the news of the warrants hit Washington DC, was confronted at the Air Line Pilots Association conference. “All the allegations are false,” he said on Thursday.
The Current Report received communication today supporting Washington had knowledge of the Peace Over Violence contract contrary to his statement at the Air Line Pilots Association.
This is a developing news story. Updates will be made as we receive them.
Disgraced former L.A. Metro CEO Philip Washington whose contract was not renewed last May by Mayor Eric Garretti, is potentially on his way to the Capitol having recently been nominated to head the Federal Aviation Administration.
Allegations of wrong-doing (an understatement to say the least) in Los Angeles sent him packing to Colorado where he somehow swindled the CEO of Denver International Airport; a position he almost lost (and should have) after Political Corruption Expert, Adam Loew exposed Washington’s lie by omission to the Denver City Council regarding his role in the criminal warrants that were being reviewed by the California Second District Court of Appeal.
Washington intended to be confirmed as the head of Denver International Airport on consent, however, after being exposed by Loew, was forced to admit he was named in criminal warrants in Los Angeles.
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE…
Unfortunately, Denver City Council overlooked Washington’s unscrupulous behaviors and alleged criminal actions and proceeded to approve his nomination to CEO of DIA. The Current Report has acquired evidence that indicates that under the leadership of Biden’s disgraced India Ambassador nominee’s Eric Garcetti, during his time as LA Metro Board Chair (puppet), Garcetti may have green-lighted a meeting between L.A. County Council, Metro Employees and the Denver Mayor’s office to collaborate on a story explaining away criminal activity.
Had Denver officials had done their due diligence, they would have discovered Washington is no stranger to the criminal warrant process or federal indictments including in their own back yard.
Washington left his post as Denver RTD’s General Manager to join L.A. Metro as CEO in May of 2015, however, back at Denver RTD the consequences of Phillip Washington’s public corruption were leading to the imprisonment of one of Denver RTD’s Senior Leadership Team and a direct report of Washington.
Kenneth Hardin, Director of the Denver RTD Civil Rights Division, was convicted in February of 2015 on three counts related to accepting bribes in connection with his official duties as a senior manager at RTD and was sentenced to 18 Months in Federal Prison.
Federal Investigators were able to prove in Federal Court that that under Phillip Washington’s leadership at Denver RTD, Hardin had exchanged contracts for cash and Hardin had lobbied RTD to renew Access-a-Ride contracts in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
“The charges against Hardin illustrate the FBI’s commitment to investigate officials who use their positions of trust for personal gain,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Thomas P. Ravenelle. “This type of criminal activity undermines the public’s confidence in government activities that should be fair and transparent. To ensure these matters are fully addressed, we strongly encourage anyone who has information about corrupt activities at any level of government to call the FBI at 888-232-3270.”
Similarly, when Washington left Los Angeles in 2021 before heading back to Denver, he was under multiple local and federal criminal investigations.
PPE PANDEMIC PANIC
In September of 2020, Political Corruption Expert Loew contacted The Current Report with information regarding counterfeit PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) knowingly being distributed to employees and drivers during the height of the pandemic.
L.A. Metro bus operator during the pandemic.
The information provided by Lowe was published by The Current Report leading to a joint investigation between the Federal Drug Administration and Homeland Security within 24 hours of release. The story sparked additional local and federal investigations to determine what role Washington had in the procurement of the counterfeit N95 masks and whether the faulty PPE led to the deaths of multiple LA Metro bus and train operators.
DID WASHINGTON KNOW ABOUT WASHINGTON’S WOES?
Knowingly or unknowingly, shortly after the 2020 election was confirmed, President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris chose embattled LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington to lead the new administration’s transition team for Transportation. A rather controversial choice as Washington was – and currently is – involved in multiple federal, state, local and internal L.A. Metro investigations involving allegations of criminal conduct.
Although Washington’s corruption has far reaching implications, his imprint locally is substantial. His dealings with LA County, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who was also named in the criminal warrants involving LA Metro, has reportedly been notified by federal authorities she is the subject of a criminal federal investigation.
Though the rumors are not clear as to whether these investigations are directly connected to her relationship with federally indicted former L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas and/or the accusation of Kuehl allegedly brokering contracts with LA Metro on behalf of her close friend Peace over Violence CEO and former Civilian Oversight Commission Chairman Patti Giggans. LA Metro’s contracts with Giggans and her organization Peace Over Violence, is also the subject of a separate Pay to Play local criminal investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
There is a significant amount of information that suggests L.A. Metro Board member Sheila Kuehl and her deputy Madeline Moore brokered a deal with Washington give approximately $1,000,000 dollars of no-bid LA Metro contracts to Kuehl’s best friend Giggans.
More recently, investigations have begun to determine what happened to $1,200,000 dollars of taxpayer funds that went uncollected related to the L.A. Metro and Westlake MacArthur Park Vendor Market sponsored by L.A. Metro Board member Hilda Solis and City Council Member Gilbert Cedillo.
On February 19, 2021, The Los County Sheriff’s Department, after a two year investigation, served criminal warrants to LA Metro, the LA Metro Office of Inspector General and Peace Over Violence over allegations of Fraud, Waste and Abuse, Public Corruption and Pay to Play between Peace Over Violence CEO Patti Giggans, LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington, Washington’s Chief of Staff Nadine Lee, former New Orleans RTA CEO Alex Wiggins and LA Metro Executive Officer Aston Greene III.
The Current Reporthas also received documentation that the warrants naming Philip Washington may also be playing a significant role in the delay of Eric Garretti’s confirmation as ambassador to India.
According to the emails received by The Current Report, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have requested documents that show then LA Metro Board member and L.A. Mayor Garcetti was chair of the L.A. Metro board, he played a role in the cover-up of the allegations of public corruption and criminal warrants at L.A. Metro related to the nomination of Washington as Denver International Airport CEO.
The Current Report has obtained Calendar entries that show that during Garcetti’s Chairmanship of L.A. Metro a meeting was held between the City of Denver mayor’s office and about 10 members of L.A. Metro’s Legal Team, PIOs and Media Team related to Phillip Washington’s nomination to DIA CEO nomination.
It is possible that this meeting was meant to deceive the Denver City Council and the Citizens of Denver as to what was really going on at L.A. Metro. If that meeting was meant to push forward the approval of Phillip Washington’s nomination as DIA CEO, the individuals involved could be charged with committing criminal conspiracy and violating California Penal Code 182 with potentially Garcetti becoming the fourth member of LA City Council to be federally indicted.
Sad but true, the political climate in Los Angeles at this point criminal attorneys across Los Angeles should be considering a volume discount for L.A. County politicians.
The LA Metro corruption has also held over in the fight between the BOS, COC and Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
The LA County BOS have shown their corruption publicly by allowing LA County Sheila Kuehl, currently under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to vote on the impeachment of the Sheriff.
Kuehl who should have recused herself (or been asked to recuse herself by her colleagues who are well aware of these investigations – water cooler talk) due to the conflict of interest, therefore the Board would not have had the votes to create the motion to approve the BOS power to remove the Sheriff.
Adding insult to injury, the Washington lawyer for LA Metro’s criminal warrant case, Havander Anand is also the lawyer for the Civilian Oversight Committee who recently filed the contempt of court case against Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
It appears that with Anand, Washington, LA Metro and BOS continue to engage in questionable ethical behavior allowing Anandan to potentially question the Villanueva in court and in turn use that information to discredit the criminal investigation of Philip Washington.
Recently a Washington DC watch dog organization has joined the effort already in progress by the Department of Justice and the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
The American Accountability Foundation, a charitable and educational organization that conducts non-partisan governmental oversight research, contacted The Current Report to assist in their independent investigation which will be submitted to members of congress. Numerous documents and evidence provided by Political Corruption Expert Leow to The Current Report was forwarded to the foundation who works closely with investigators on Capitol Hill.
This is a developing news story.
Adam Loew is one of the leading experts in Public Corruption in Los Angeles. He is a Partner in the citizen’s advocacy company the A-Team Advocacy Group to work with whistleblowers of Public Corruption. Loew has a unique style of analyzing allegations of Public Corruption that has led to criminal investigations of prominent elected officials, and government agencies.
The Culprits: TRUMP CONSERVATIVE L.A County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Fifth District Chief of staff Anna Mouradian and Fifth District Transportation Deputy Dave Perry.
LA County Supervisor Kathryn BargerFifth District Chief of Staff Anna MouradianFifth District Transportation DeputyDave Perry
THE VICTIM: L.A. Metro Transgender Employee Jess Reynolds
THE EVIDENCE: Jess Reynolds filed a Lawsuit in the Superior Court Of California alleging multiple instances of Transgender discrimination and retaliation and LGBT HATE comments at LA Metro while the Agency was under the supervision of CEO Phillip Washington.
Transgender Discrimination and LBGTQ+ HATE Speech suit filed by Jess Reynolds
MORE EVIDENCE:L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Chief of Staff Anna Mouradian and Transportation Deputy Dave Perry knew about the Allegations of Transgender discrimination, retaliation and LBGTQ+ HATE SPEECH and took no action.
Read Receipt from Kathryn Barger Read Receipt Anna Mouradian Read Receipt Dave Perry
THE TAKEDOWN:Discrimination, retaliation and Hate Speech ran rampant at LA Metro under the leadership of CEO Phillip Washington. Unfortunately Supervisor Barger (former Chair of the LAC BOS) her Chief of Staff and top Transportation Deputy turned a blind eye while LQBTQ+ employees were harassed, emotionally tortured and discriminated against at Metro related to gender identity. Barger knew about the LBGTQ+ discrimination and did nothing to help. Hello again Germany circa 1940.
THE FOLLOW UP QUESTION:
Is LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger a closet extreme RIGHT WING TRUMP RELIGIOUS CONSEVATIVE who believes in LGBTQ+ discrimination?
Will Barger continue to allow harassment and discriminations of the LBGTQ+ community at LA Metro?
Will Barger terminate the employment of Anna Mouradian and Dave Perry for allowing LBTGTQ= Discrimination at LA Metro to thrive?
Will Barger join LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl in her support of LQGTQ+ discrimination, in an effort to assist in the confirmation of Former LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington as the new CEO of Denver Airport?
CEO Phillip Washington is currently refusing to comply with criminal warrants as he steps down from his position at L.A.Metro, the ninth largest transportation agency in the country.
The situation at LA Metro sounds eerily familiar to the the way Washington, left his former employer, Denver Regional Transit District.
Washington left his post as Denver RTD’s General Manager to join L.A. Metro as CEO in May of 2015, however, back at Denver RTD “Mile High” consequences of Phillip Washington’s public corruption were leading to the imprisonment of one of Denver RTD’s Senior Leadership Team and a direct report of Washington.
Kenneth Hardin, Director of the Denver RTD Civil Rights Division, was convicted in February of 2015 on three counts related to accepting bribes in connection with his official duties as a senior manager at RTD and was sentenced to 18 Months in Federal Prison.
Federal Investigators were able to prove in Federal Court that that under Phillip Washington’s leadership at Denver RTD, Hardin had exchanged contracts for cash and Hardin had lobbied RTD to renew Access-a-Ride contracts in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
According to the indictment, Hardin was an employee of the Regional Transportation District in Colorado (“RTD”), holding the position of Senior Manager of RTD’s Civil Rights Division. In that position, Hardin’s duties at RTD included directing and managing the operations of RTD’s Civil Rights Division, which was responsible for furthering civil rights goals through regulatory compliance, complaint investigation, community outreach, and programmatic strategy development. The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program is one of the programs that fell under the umbrella of RTD’s Civil Rights Division. As the Senior Manager of the Civil Rights Division, Hardin also served as RTD’s Diversity Officer, and his duties included taking a leadership role in developing diversity initiatives. RTD receives money from federal grants.
“The charges against Hardin illustrate the FBI’s commitment to investigate officials who use their positions of trust for personal gain,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Thomas P. Ravenelle. “This type of criminal activity undermines the public’s confidence in government activities that should be fair and transparent. To ensure these matters are fully addressed, we strongly encourage anyone who has information about corrupt activities at any level of government to call the FBI at 888-232-3270.”
IF IT LOOKS LIKE A DUCK
On February 19, 2021, The Los County Sheriff’s Department, after a two year investigation, served criminal warrants to LA Metro, the LA Metro Office of Inspector General and Peace Over Violence over allegations of Fraud, Waste and Abuse, Public Corruption and Pay to Play between Peace Over Violence CEO Patti Giggans, LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington, Washington’s Chief of Staff Nadine Lee, former New Orleans RTA CEO Alex Wiggins and LA Metro Executive Officer Aston Greene III.
If all of this sounds familiar, it should. Over the last 6 years LA. Metro CEO Phillip Washington has brought his recipe for public corruption, pay-to-play, and fraud waste and abuse of public funds to Los Angeles. Washington spiced things up little by adding Gender Discrimination as a member of the Chicken Bone, topping it off with Employee Intimidation and LBGTQ harassment.
LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington admitted openly to investigators that he belongs to a Business Networking group that excludes women.
Metro Employee Lawsuit filed against LA Metro by a member of the LBGTQ community for Harassment
It appears that criminal activity is the family business as LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington’s son Phillip II a Supervisor at Denver RTD seams to be active in the sale of federally controlled substances as Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, specifically, the Controlled Substances Act. Found at Title 21, Section 811 of the United States Code (U.S.C.), the law makes illegal to use, possess, grow and sell marijuana.
Greeting from LA Metro CEO Washington’s son Denver RTD Supervisor Phillip Washington II
Phillip Washington II
ERIC SAYS ENOUGH
Sources close to LA Mayor and LA Metro Board Chairman Eric Garcetti told The Current Report that Garcetti is privately furious about the havoc that Phillip Washington has created in LA. The source told The Current Report that “during a conversation about Phillip Washington, Mayor Garcetti said “I’m sick of this guy, he won’t listen and he won’t clean up his act.”
It looks like Mayor Garcetti has had enough as Phillip Washington announced on February 3rd that he would be stepping down from his post as CEO of LA Metro without securing another job. Sixteen days later L.A. Metro, the L.A. Metro Board Office of Inspector general and Peace of Violence CEO Patti Giggans were served with criminal warrants by the LA County Sherriff’s Public Corruption task force.
For more than a year the FBI, Homeland Security, the FDA, LAPD, the LA County District Attorney, and the LA County Sheriffs have been combing over nearly 20,000 pages of documents in connection Pay- to-Play, Public Corruption and Fraud Waste and Abuse of Public Funds by Patti Giggans, Sheila Kuehl, Phillip Washington, Gilbert Cedillo and Hilda Solis.
“There are millions of taxpayer dollars missing or being miss appropriated at LA Metro.” According to a source close to the investigation, “You have 1.2 million dollars missing from Gilbert Cedillo and Hilda Solis’s Westlake MacArthur Park vendor market, Sheila Kuehl has arranged for her ex-girlfriend Patti Giggans to get no-bid contracts totaling more than $800,000 for a hotline that Metro doesn’t even use, but continues to pay Purchase Orders to Peace Over Violence and LA Metro Executive Officer Aston Greene III gave a $187,000 no-bid contract to included $33000.00 in travel expenses to a women named Kendra Taylor from Atlanta, a former associate of Greene’s from Atlanta.”
1.2 million in unpaid invoices from LA Metro to LA City Councilman Gil Cedillo
A $187,000 No-Bid-Contract to LA Metro Executive Officer Aston Green “Business Colleague” Kendra Taylor from Atlanta where Greene III wife and family live.
TRICKLE DOWN EFFECT
The Current Report has reviewed nearly all 20,000 pieces of evidence that was turned over to law enforcement. After reviewing the evidence, it is hard to believe that once the investigation into corruption at LA Metro and Peace Over Violence is turned over to prosecutors, that charges will not be filed against LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington, Chief of Staff Nadine Lee, Peace Over Violence CEO Patti Giggans, LA County Supervisors Solis and Kuehl, City Council Member Gill Cedillo and Former Deputy Chief of LAPD Robert Green.
In reviewing the evidence, it appears that several LA County and LA City staff as well as Transportation Deputies that serve the elected official on the LA Metro Board, were aware of the public corruption and may also be facing criminal charges. According to the documents reviewed by The Current Report, Sheila Kuehl’s Chief of Staff Lisa Mandel, Katheryn Barger’s Chief of Staff Anna Mouradian and Hilda Solis’s Chief of Staff Cindy Chen may be facing criminal charges related to Criminal Conspiracy subject to California Penal Code 182 PC.
The aftermath of criminal charges against LA County and LA City’s elected official and senior management at LA Metro may also trickle down to line level employees.
“There is plenty of evidence that may lead to incitements of Transportation Deputies and LA Metro Employees who colluded with Washington” according to several sources. “If I were Doug Mensman and Dan Rodman from the Mayors transportation department office, Transportation Deputy Dave Perry from Barger’s office, Transportation Deputy Madeline Moore from Kuehl’s office, and Transportation Deputy Martin Reyes form Solis’s offices, I would definitely be wondering whether LA County is going to provide defense council if charges are filed.”
The LA Metro employees that have been aiding CEO Phillip Washington engage in corruption should be actively speaking to defense counsel in anticipation of charges being filed. These people know that they were doing something illegal and just let LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington, Mayor Garcetti and the LA County Board of Supervisors steal millions of dollars from the citizens of LA County.”
BYE BYE FELONY PHIL
On May 30th LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington will leave LA Metro in the same condition he left Denver RTD under Criminal Investigation.
Washington is leaving LA Metro employees to face potential criminal prosecuting, and incarceration in the same way he left Kenneth Hardin to spend 18 months in Federal Prison. Who will be the next Kenneth Hardin? Which LA Metro Employees, LA County Board of Supervisor Staff and LA City Staff will end up facing prison time just like Hardin? Will Mensman, Perry, Moore, Rodman, Mandel or Mouradian be the ones enjoying the new jail reforms advocated for by Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis or will Mensman, Perry, Moore, Rodman, Mandel or Mouradian turn over evidence that implicates Washington, Lee, Barger, Solis, and Kuehl, for defrauding the Citizens of LA County.
The clock is ticking as Law Enforcement is aggressively pursuing answers.
While the country continues to watch the election drama unfold, President-Elect Biden and VP-Elect Kamala Harris continue moving forward with the transition to a new administration despite the monumental roadblocks strategically placed by the Trump Administration.
Using the technicalities to justify their actions, Trump appointee, Emily Murphy, the head of the General Services Administration has failed to affirm that Biden won the election. The GSA, the agency that certifies presidential transitions, has refused to trigger a process which has effectively blocked Biden’s transition team from accessing government resources – and based on information obtained by The Current Report regarding a key member of the transition team, the stall might turn out to be a good thing.
Knowingly or unknowingly, President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris have chosen embattled LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington to lead the new administration’s transition team for Transportation. A rather controversial choice as Washington is involved in multiple federal, state, local and internal L.A. Metro investigations involving allegations of criminal conduct.
Screenshot form the Biden-Harris Transition Website.
L.A. Metro CE, Phillip Washington
It is certainly plausible that the Biden-Harris were unaware that the LA Metro CEO, the head of the third largest transportation agency, is under multiple Federal investigations for allegations that as LA Metro CEO engaged in Pay-to-Play, Public Corruption, Fraud, Wasted and Abuse of Public Funds, and Wire Fraud exposed by reporter Bill Melugin back in September. Counterfeit PPE exposed by The Current Report in October helped open multiple federal investigations into L.A. Metro’s involvement in the import and distribution of fake, federally regulated N95 respirators to Metro staff. If it is found that the counterfeit PPE lead to the death of multiple Metro employees, Washington could also face manslaughter charges.
“Given the number of criminal investigations currently underway, one simply cannot imagine a scenario in which President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris will tolerate Phil Washington’s corruption” said a source close to the criminal investigations at L.A. Metro.“He was able to temporarily stop a criminal investigation by DA Jackie Lacey’s head of Public Integrity unit Alan Yochelson by having his lawyers make campaign contributions to Lacey’s campaign.” the source continued.
The Current Report discovered through a search at the LA County Registrar-Recorder Campaign database that the law firm of Sheppard Mullin, which represents LA Metro and LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington, made their first campaign contribution in 11 years to an L.A. County District Attorney election, and their only L.A. County campaign contribution in the 2020 election cycle, was to District Attorney Jackie Lacey and their only L.A. County campaign contribution in the 2020 election cycle.
In July of 2019, complaints were filed by whistleblowers regarding Public Corruption and Pay-to-Play by L.A. Metro CEO Phillip Washington, LA Metro Karen Gorman (who is accused of stealing taxpayer funds from L.A. Metro) L.A. Metro Employees Aston Greene III and member of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors Sheila Kuehl, members of the L.A. City Council, Peace Over Violence and Civilian Oversight Chairman Patti Giggans.
Head District Attorney Joseph Esposito has acknowledged that these complaints are under review. In December of 2019, the law firm of Sheppard Mullin made campaign contributions to the Jackie Lacey for DA Campaign, approximately 45 days after being retained by L.A. Metro and Phillip Washington and New Orleans RTA CEO Alex Wiggins.
As a result, it appears the ADA Yochelson made little effort to investigate multiple allegations into public corruption at L.A. Metro. Yochelson has been exposed previously for his arrogance, bias and unwillingness to hold Malibu City officials accountable for their criminal activities which include alleged bribery, voter intimidation, harassment. “Yochelson is widely considered a primary contributor to corruption in L.A. County, and he will generally cower to the pocketbooks of elected officials and not investigating public corruption in L.A. County.” Said a source who has work in public corruption for several years, “Yochelson is considered the biggest joke in the DA office.” Whistleblowers in the LA Metro case received a letter from Head ADA Joseph Esposito asking for patience. However, the DA’s office has never interviewed any of the whistleblowers in this case.
LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington is no stranger to Federal Investigations. The Director of the Civil Rights Division a Denver’s Regional Transit District (RTD), Kenneth Hardin, was indicted and subsequently convicted of accepting Bribes under Phil Washington’s leadership.
In Los Angeles, several federal investigations have been fueled by Bill Melugin’s Fox11 News story about no-bid contracts between L.A. Metro and Peace Over Violence and Civilian Oversight Committee Chairman, Patti Giggans, who is one of Supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s best friends.
According to a source who was interviewed by Federal Agents “within minutes of Melugin’s story airing on Fox11 News, the Department of Homeland Security reached out to whistleblowers to request evidence related allegations by L.A. Metro CEO Phillip Washington, L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and Peace Over Violence and LA County Civilian oversight Commission Chair Patti Giggans.”
The corruption is out of control in Los Angeles when it comes to the stranglehold that the triangle of corruption between Washington, Kuehl, and Giggans hold over the heads of prosecutors. Washington, Kuehl, and Giggans, unfortunately, can influence the United States Department of Justice.
“Assistant United States Attorney Brendon Fox, Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice, in the Central District of California is frustrating the Department of HomelandSecurity efforts to investigate allegations of criminal activity by Phillip Washington, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and Patti Giggans as it relates to no-bid contracts at LA Metro, specifically around wire fraud.” commented a source who has been interviewed with both Homeland Security and the FBI task force assigned to public corruption in Los Angeles, “Assistant United States Attorney, Brendon Fox wrote a three-page letter to the Department of Homeland Security, outlining why he was preventing Homeland Security from investigating allegations of criminal activity by Washington, Kuehl and Giggans, however, Homeland Security Directors were told privately it was a political favor of L.A. County Supervisor Kuehl.”
When LA County Inspector General Max Huntsman was asked if it was appropriate for Patti Giggans to remain on the Civilian Oversight Commission while being criminally investigated by the LA County DA’s Office Huntsman stated:
“You ask if it is a conflict of interest for someone to be part of a county commission which is being reviewed by the grand jury. No, it is not. It is the civil grand jury’s job to review any aspects of local government at their discretion and that function happens yearly. Should the civil grand jury conclude it appropriate, they are empowered to make recommendations regarding local government. Members of the civil grand jury do not generally also sit on county commissions for that reason. Not only is it appropriate for someone to sit on a commission that is being reviewed by the grand jury, it is expected.” said Huntsman.
A source close to the cases involving Washington stated:
“Huntsman’s arrogance is indicative of the broader sense that LA County Officials are “untouchable” by law enforcement and prosecutors. I work with various law enforcement agencies every day, and I can assure you that Phillip Washington, Supervisor Kuehl, and Patti Giggan’s are subject to very serious investigations. I think the task force that is looking into the criminal activity at LA Metro, LA County and at Peace Over Violence consists of 25 investigators from 5 different agencies, including the FBI task force that formerly investigating Jose Huizar.”
“It would be inappropriate for me to comment on information that has been shared by Law Enforcement or interactions I have had with the Grand Jury. However, if I were Washington, Kuehl or Giggans, I would be actively be retaining a criminal defense attorney, and letting my family know that there is high probability that Grand Jury will hand down indictments.” he continued “As for Huntsman, taunting the DOJ and the Grand Jury, well, sounds like there may be a separate federal investigation in to corruption involving Huntsman. I do know it is never good if the DOJ and Grand Jury know where to find you.”
It is well known that L.A. Metro CEO Phillip Washington wants to be the United States Secretary of Transportation. However, due to the ongoing criminal investigations into Public Corruption, Pay to Play and Fraud, Waste and Abuse of Taxpayer funds, it is highly unlikely that a Cabinet appointment is in LA Metro CEO Philip Washington’s future.
Over the last several days, Vice President Elects Harris’s office has been notified of the Criminal Investigations involving LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington, however, Vice President Elect Harris has declined to return phone calls regarding Washington.
“Phillip Washington could have been the example of the American experience, rising out of the Chicago projects to become the Secretary of Transportation. Instead Phil decided to take shortcuts, lie, cheat, steal and betray the public trust to get what he wanted, and now it is likely that he will be held criminally accountable” concluded sources close to the investigation.
According to the Build Back Better, the official Biden-Harris transition website, Washington continues to hold a key leadership position while the agency he in charge of, L.A. Metro, continues to fail its employees and the public at large. L.A. Metro has yet to notify employees of the counterfeit PPE, discovered in April at the beginning of the pandemic and could possibly be linked to the deaths of at least three employees who contracted COVID19. Additionally, L.A. Metro has yet to publicly address multiple faulty PPE equipment in their inventory – possibly still in circulation – distributed to the over thousands of employees and public at large whose use L.A. Metro services.
As government officials grapple with COVID numbers spiking exponentially, the Biden-Harris appointment of Philip Washington as Team leader for Public Transportation is a disappointing and controversial choice to say the least.
The Biden transition staff did not respond to requests for comment.
In July of 2019, complaints were filed by whistleblowers regarding Public Corruption and Pay-to-Play by L.A. Metro CEO Phillip Washington, LA Metro Karen Gorman (who is accused of stealing taxpayer funds from L.A. Metro) L.A. Metro Employees Aston Greene III and member of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors Sheila Kuehl, members of the L.A. City Council, Peace Over Violence and Civilian Oversight Chairman Patti Giggans.
