Details on City Hall sex angle

NBC 4 was first to go with the story last night, but today's Times and Daily News have many more details on the Grand Jury testimony alleging sexual favors paid for by indicted City Hall power broker Leland Wong. Testifying under immunity, former deputy mayor Troy Edwards said that he let Wong pay for several massages at the Bonaventure Hotel spa downtown following dinner or drinks together and that some of the massages ended with Edwards being masturbated. Other testimony, reports the Times, alleged that Wong submitted $18,000 worth of massages for reimbursement by Kaiser Permanente, where he was director of government relations, and used a subordinate's name to disguise the charges. Miguel Contreras, the late labor leader, was among the local political figures who had massages reportedly arranged by Wong. Edwards testified that he patronized the Bonaventure spa every month or so for a year and a half.

The stories also disclosed some of the DA's case against Wong and include revealing details on how influence allegedly worked in the Hahn Administration at City Hall. From the LAT:

One of Edwards' assignments was to persuade some air carriers, including EVA Air, to shift cargo operations from crowded LAX to less-traveled Ontario airport. EVA Air is operated by the Taiwan-based Evergreen Group, one of the world's largest shipping lines.

Edwards told the grand jury that he often looked to Wong for advice, and as a member of the city's Airport Commission, Wong helped him persuade EVA Air to move.

But Wong had another, secret, agenda, prosecutors said. Allegedly unbeknownst to Hahn or Edwards, they said, Wong was on the payroll of the Evergreen Group, which had operations both at the airport and the port.

Wong had approached an Evergreen shipping executive, Ren-Gung Shyu, and said that, for a fee, he could help the company renegotiate a more favorable lease at the port and get the use of more land there, prosecutors said.

Shyu agreed that Evergreen would pay Wong $5,000 a month. Prosecutors have charged Wong with receiving 20 of these payments, which they describe as bribes, and which were deposited in his Hong Kong bank account.

Neither Shyu nor Evergreen has been charged.

Wong urged Edwards to push the port to work with Evergreen because Evergreen had decided to help the city by moving its air cargo operation to Ontario, prosecutors said.

When low-level port officials balked at giving Evergreen a credit it was seeking in renegotiating its lease, prosecutors said, Wong "intervened once again and hounded Edwards on the importance of giving Evergreen the terms it wanted…. As a result, Edwards sent the port executive director, Larry Keller, and Harbor Commissioner James Acevedo to replace the port negotiation team to ensure that Evergreen got what it wanted."

Even after Hahn shifted Wong from the Airport Commission to the Water and Power Commission in 2003, "Wong continued to badger Edwards to provide Evergreen with everything it wanted at the port," they said.

Denials all around, of course. By the way, NBC 4 had reported last night that it alone went to court seeking access to the Grand Jury files. Today's LAT story notes that the Times and Channel 4 filed court papers. (Added: The Daily Breeze has a story too.)

Photo of Leland Wong: Al Seib/LAT