Former Lawmaker To Plead Guilty To Federal Mail Fraud

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Former state Sen. Ron Calderon is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to a federal mail fraud charge, weeks after his brother, also a former lawmaker, admitted allowing bribe money earmarked for his sibling to be funneled through his firm.

Calderon admitted he accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for performing official acts as a legislator, according to his plea agreement.

The 58-year-old Montebello resident is scheduled to enter his plea early Tuesday afternoon to one count of mail fraud through the deprivation of honest services before U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder in downtown Los Angeles.

The agreement – under which federal prosecutors promised not to seek a sentence of more than about six years in federal prison – comes several weeks before Calderon was scheduled to go on trial on charges contained in a 24-count indictment filed in 2014. Calderon admitted to accepting bribe payments from the owner of a Long Beach hospital who wanted a law to remain in effect so he could continue to reap millions of dollars in illicit profits from a separate fraud scheme, and from undercover FBI agents who were posing as independent filmmakers who wanted changes to the state's Film Tax Credit program, according to the plea agreement.

Calderon's elder brother, a former member of the California State Assembly who became a political consultant, pleaded guilty June 6 to a federal money laundering charge and will be sentenced Sept. 12.

Prosecutors have agreed to recommend a sentence of no more than a year in prison for Tom Calderon, 62, also of Montebello.

He admitted that he agreed to conceal bribe payments for his brother from the two undercover FBI agents by having the money go through his company, the Calderon Group. The payments were made "to conceal and disguise the fact that the money represented the proceeds of bribery," according to his plea agreement.

The Calderon brothers were indicted on two dozen counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, honest services fraud, bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, and aiding in the filing of false tax returns.

Ron Calderon was accused of accepting $80,000 in bribes, as well as gourmet meals and golf outings, from a medical company owner and an undercover FBI agent posing as a film executive. He was suspended from the state Senate in March 2014, and his term in office ended nine months later.

Tom Calderon represented his Montebello-area district in the California Assembly from 1998-2002.

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