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Thursday, August 13-August 19, 2026
NO. 288
Arcadia councilman used company raided by FBI for campaign media
LA County housing shortage persists despite modest progress, USC report says
By Joe Taglieri
By City News Service
joet@civicnewsgroup.com
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From left, Arcadia then-Mayor Michael Cao, State Treasurer Fiona Ma and James Su attend an event, as seen in this photo posted to Su's Facebook account Aug. 24, 2024. | Photo courtesy of April Verlato
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company that was recently raided by the FBI and registered as an agent of the Chinese government produced campaign videos for Arcadia Councilman Michael Cao during his 2022 campaign, according to financial disclosure documents. Cao's campaign paid EDI Media Inc. more than $17,000 between July and September 2022 for television air time and video production costs, documents show. Federal agents searched the EDI Media office in West Covina as well as the home of owner James Su on July 28 in addition to a mansion in Beverly Hills and the homes of San Bernardino City Councilman Alan Wapner and Curt Wagner, a member of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. The raids were the latest development federal as
investigations intensify into allegations of connections between city and county officials and intelligence agents for the People's Republic of China. Ex-Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang is awaiting sentencing after she pleaded guilty earlier this year to concealing her SGV-based propaganda work directed by the PRC intelligence community. The Los Angeles Times reported Su contributed $500 to Wang's campaign on Oct. 10, 2022, but a one-page disclosure document on the city's website indicating Oct. 10 donations do not show a contribution from Su. A hyperlink to the contribution document with the online version of the Times story was inoperable Tuesday. Financial disclosure documents on the city's website show Cao's 2022 campaign made 11 payments of $1,588
to EDI Media. Cao did not respond to a request for comment on whether he knew if Su and EDI were registered agents of China and the specifics of the campaign services the company provided. Su's media company includes several businesses in the Los Angeles area, including the Chineselanguage website iCity News and two radio stations. Su and EDI had to register as a foreign agent on Feb. 24, 2022, because EDI had printed the U.S. version of the Xinmin Evening News, which the U.S. State Department considered a "foreign mission" of the Chinese government. Su's attorney Andrew Cowan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He told the Times in late July that his client is an American citizen who donated to a variety of campaigns across the political spectrum and does not know why the FBI served search warrants at his home and company headquarters. Cowan said that Hagman is the only individual connected with the properties searched with whom Su is familiar. FBI agents also raided a 21,000-square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills at 613 N. Canon Drive on July 28. The home was sold by Kurdish Gen. Mansour Banzani to a Chinese mainland family in 2023 for $24.6 million, the Times reported. Two companies, one registered in Delaware, purchased the mansion. As Tuesday's raids
See FBI investigation Page 16
os Angeles County has made modest progress in expanding affordable housing while homelessness has leveled off, but a severe housing shortage continues to leave renters burdened by rising costs and many would-be homebuyers priced out of the market, according to a USC report released Tuesday. The USC Lusk Center for Real Estate's second annual State of Los Angeles County Housing and Neighborhoods report found that production of accessory dwelling units reached a record high in 2025, while the share of new rental housing affordable to lowincome households nearly doubled from an average of 10% in recent years to 19%. Researchers cautioned that LA County remains well short of its state-mandated housing production goals despite the gains. The report also noted that housing production has fallen sharply since the 1950s even as the county's population has continued to grow. "This year, we have real bright spots to point to," Jared Schachner, the report's research director, said in a statement. "Our report shows that when voters and local leaders make it easier to build and invest in expanding affordable housing, it works: housing gets built, and more of it reaches the families who need it most. Unfortunately, our county's housing shortage has been decades in
the making. This year's gains barely scratch the surface, but we're seeing that progress is possible." The report also found the county's population grew by roughly 100,000 residents in 2024, marking the first signs of population growth since declines began in 2015. At the same time, the number of households continued to increase, placing additional pressure on the housing supply. Researchers also found Los Angeles County's population under age 24 declined nearly twice as fast as the national rate between 2014 and 2024, while the share of households with children fell from above the national average to below it. Homeownership remained significantly less common in Los Angeles County than in the rest of California and the nation, according to the report. Researchers found homeownership rates declined across all income groups over the past decade, with middleincome households experiencing the steepest drop. The report found a greater share of higherincome households remain renters because of barriers to homeownership. More than half of renters — 57% — spend more than 30% of their income on rent, while the share of middle-income renters spending more than half of their income on rent has doubled over the past decade.
See Housing shortage Page 13