Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich on Tuesday withdrew a motion that could have slowed progress on a proposed downtown NFL stadium after the stadium developer’s lawyer questioned whether Antonovich had a financial conflict of interest in the matter.
The potential conflict stems from claims by Antonovich's wife that she is owed hundreds of thousands of dollars by an affiliate of the developer Anschutz Entertainment Group, according to an attorney for the firm.
County supervisors on Tuesday had been scheduled to consider a motion by Antonovich opposing AEG's push in Sacramento to curtail the time period allowed for legal challenges to its $1-billion stadium proposal. But in a letter Monday, AEG lawyer James Sutton said a vote should not be cast until the county’s lawyers determine whether Antonovich should be disqualified from participating.
In a letter to the county’s lawyers, Sutton said that Antonovich’s wife, Christine Hu Antonovich, has been locked in a dispute over fees for more than a year with AEG’s affiliate in Shanghai, AEG Business Management Consulting. Hu Antonovich claimed that she earned those fees while introducing AEG executives to Chinese officials several years ago, Sutton said.
Antonovich opposes legislation that would shorten the time period for challenges to AEG's environmental impact report -- unless similar protections are provided to county hospitals, libraries, schools and transportation projects.
Antonovich said the intent of his motion was to protect taxpayers and he was surprised that AEG interjected a family member into the debate.
Antonovich told The Times he did not inform his staff or county counsel that his wife had a financial dispute with AEG and did not believe it posed a conflict. “No, because this doesn’t deal with AEG. This deals with the subsidiary in China,” he said.
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