Century City/ Westwood JUNE 24 – JULY 28, 2022
NEWS CenturyCity-WestwoodNews.com
LA County to Fund Over 100 Units of Permanent Supportive Housing at West Los Angeles VA Redevelopment would bring 112 units to campus By Dolores Quintana The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved the release of up to $163 million of funding that would pay for the construction of affordable and permanent housing in three areas of the county: the West Los Angeles VA Campus, unincorporated Florence Firestone and the City of Alhambra as reported by Urbanize Los Angeles. This plan would create 407 homes and over half of those homes would be set aside for people in the county who are unhoused. The vote was unanimous. The project at the West Los Angles
Veterans Administration campus is being developed by Century Housing Corporation. The County Supervisors’ approval would give the development company $47.2 million in bond financing to convert Building 157 and another building (156) into housing. These two buildings have both been vacant for over 50 years. They were used as office buildings and as medical clinic in the past. After they are redeveloped, the developer’s plans are to create 112 permanent supportive housing that would be set aside for veterans alone. The rents for these apartments would be set to be affordable for those who only earn below 30 to 50 percent of the median area income. The West Los Angeles Veterans Collective is the overall group that Century Housing Corporation is part of and that has been given the responsibility of redevelopment of the West Los Angeles VA campus that sits west of the 405 freeway.
Credit: Los Angeles County Rendering of West LA VA Buildings 156 & 157.
Westwood Man Arrested on Federal Indictment Alleging Defrauding Clients Out of $5.2 Million Tommy Lester Watts faces up to 20 years in federal prison By Sam Catanzaro A Westwood man was arrested this month on a 27-count federal grand jury indictment alleging he defrauded victims out of more than $5 million by purporting to sell bonds for large-scale construction and other projects. Tommy Lester Watts, 62, a.k.a. “Michael Nesbeth,” “Michael Kent,” and “Alex Mason,” was arrested at his residence earlier this month. Watts is charged in an indictment with 13 counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, eight counts of money laundering, two counts of tax evasion and two counts of willful failure to file tax returns. According to the indictment, from September 2016 to September 2019, Watts falsely claimed to be experienced in and able to provide surety bonds and other financial guarantees for large-scale projects. Watts allegedly told victims that he would assist them in obtaining financing for their projects via his various companies, including the Sherman Oaks-based Source One Surety LLC. Watts allegedly misrepresented that any such bonds or guarantees were underwritten by well-known companies and banks, and that they were backed by assets in the millions or billions of dollars.
Prosecutors say, however, that Watts and his companies were not licensed to sell such bonds in California. And his claims about his experience, his clients – including governments – his underwriting, and his supporting assets were not true, the indictment alleges. To make his scheme appear legitimate, Watts allegedly hijacked the corporate filings of other companies and created fake employees and accounts for underwriters and banks. Watts caused victims to send his companies approximately $5,205,144, the majority of which he spent on personal items such as classic and luxury cars, rent for high-end apartments, and the purchase of luxury retail goods, the indictment states. He also allegedly laundered victim payments through accounts held in the names of corporations that were not registered and used fake taxpayer identification numbers – and then used those accounts to spend victim funds as his own. He hid this income from the IRS in tax years 2017 and 2018, in which years he failed to file any tax returns, according to the indictment. If convicted, Watts would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud count, 10 years in federal prison for each money laundering count, five years in federal prison for each tax evasion count, one year in federal prison for each willful failure to file tax returns count, and a mandatory two-year consecutive prison sentence for each count of aggravated identity theft.
Photo: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California (Facebook) United States Courthouse - Spring Street.