Charges Refiled Against John Noguez, Ramin Salari, and Mark McNiel

BY BRIAN HEWS • July 29, 2020

District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced that her office has refiled  78 felony charges against former Assessor John Noguez, Ramin Salari and Mark McNiel in the largest public corruption scheme in Los Angeles’ history that began 10 years ago.

In October 17, 2012, Noguez was arrested on over 40 counts of conspiracy, bribery, and corruption. The original complaint alleged that Noguez accepted $185,000 in bribes from Salari between February and September 2010 but several charges were added later.

An appellate court ordered the matter dismissed on a technical violation in May of this year. In a criminal complaint filed Monday, prosecutors basically re- accused Noguez and others of their past crimes.

The DA alleged that Noguez, along with Mark McNeil, a top official in the assessor’s office, and Arizona tax consultant Ramin Salari participated in a scheme in which Noguez would accept bribes to illegally lower the values of properties across greater L.A. so that Salari’s clients would pay less in taxes.

Noguez  faces an additional three counts of accepting bribes, two counts of embezzlement by a public or private officer, and one count of public records violation. Salari was slammed with seven counts of grand theft, nine counts of embezzlement, and 23 counts of bribing an executive officer.

On Monday, the three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and are scheduled to return on August 12.

If convicted as charged, Noguez faces a  maximum sentence of 36 years; Salari faces 59 years in prison and McNeil faces 22 years.

Bail on Monday was set at $1.16 million for each defendant. The three were not taken into custody after the new case was filed as the bond was carried over from the previous case.

No trial date has been set.