KTLA

Attorney to plead guilty to bribery in $2M kickback scheme tied to LADWP billing case

Paul Paradis is seen with attorney Angela Machala outside L.A. County Superior Court in 2019.(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

An attorney hired by City Atty. Mike Feuer’s office has agreed to plead guilty to one count of bribery in a nearly $2.2-million kickback scheme arising from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s 2013 billing fiasco, prosecutors said Monday.

Paul Paradis, 58, of Scottsdale, Ariz., also admitted to additional bribery schemes involving high-level officials at the DWP, the U.S. attorney’s office said.


Paradis is cooperating with the federal criminal investigation, which is ongoing, prosecutors said.

Paradis took part in a sweeping plan to settle a high-profile lawsuit brought against the DWP on terms that were favorable to the city and himself, prosecutors said. He simultaneously represented the DWP and a DWP customer who was the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the city, prosecutors said.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.