Part 81: Izek Shomof and the LA Alliance for Human Rights – Developer Chutzpah and the Salvation of Los Angeles

Published February 23, 2024. Last Updated February 25, 2024.

Photo of the Alexandria Hotel redeveloped by Izek Shomof and mixed-use buildings on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles by author (GoPro Hero 11 Black).

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By Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist

The Los Angeles Times featured a story on February 9 by respected journalist Doug Smith describing a meeting sometime in January regarding a proposed $6.4 million dollar fine requested by the LA Alliance for Human Rights. The meeting with Judge David O. Carter and lawyers for the group was interrupted by Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez and the Chief of Staff to Councilman Kevin de León according to the report. “Frustration rose to a point,” he writes that they “walked in uninvited to a negotiating session in a judge’s chambers to see what was being discussed” in an act of defiance.

The fine is being requested because the LA Alliance previously sued the City of Los Angeles to force them to “shelter at least 60% of people living on the streets in each council district,” but also because “the city repeatedly missed deadlines and negotiated in bad faith.” Mayor Karen Bass “blasted it” in a statement saying that: “The City of Los Angeles brought thousands more unhoused Angelenos inside last year than the year before and we will continue that urgent work to save lives no matter what…I do not have patience for anyone who stands in the way, and certainly not for those seeking to profit with baseless motions in court.”

Clearly, Mayor Bass is not happy with the idea of paying taxpayer money on top of the more than $1.3 billion the city plans to spend on “housing and homelessness programs” this year. According to Smith’s report, the “city attorney’s office” said that the sanctions were “unprecedented,” “unbecoming” and “incorrect” in “an opposition filed this week.” Score one finally for City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto? Little known though is the background of the LA Alliance, which is discussed in the new book by developer Izek Shomof Dreams Don’t Die distributed by Simon & Schuster and published by Forefront Books.

Until now though, it hasn’t been widely reported that developer Izek Shomof was the principal founder of the LA Alliance. Shomof writes about his conversation with former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti that: “As a result of that conversation, I decided to go forward with the lawsuit.” He continues describing how he “interviewed several attorneys who had the right experience” with gusto, before stating that he “ended up hiring Elizabeth Mitchell and her firm.” Shomof doesn’t name the firm, but a simple search reveals that Mitchell who filed the papers to create the LA Alliance is a partner at Umhofer, Mitchell & King LLP.

A former employee in the City Attorney’s Office with the Police Litigation Unit, Mitchell specialized in “violent and sexual crimes” according to the LA Alliance’s webpage noting that she “led the Alliance in developing a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the City and County of Los Angeles.” Shomof writes that “With the help of a few other property owners, we raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to back the lawsuit.” He continues stating that “Rather than making it a personal issue,” Shomof says that the LA Alliance lawsuit underwriting the proposed $6.4 million fine asked “the city and county to take responsibility for the homeless and to return the sidewalks to their intended use.”

The LA Alliance on behalf of Shomof and the others filed their lawsuit in March 2020 right before “the COVID-19 pandemic shut down every-thing, including the courthouse, and we received word that the hearing was going to be postponed.” This didn’t stop Shomof though, and he says that “Since it was an emergency situation…Judge Carter agreed to continue with the lawsuit” and that he then “offered to host the hearing at the huge ballroom in the Alexandria Hotel at 501 South Spring Street.” Mitchell did not respond to a request for comment on the 501(c)(3) group’s Tax ID number, Board Members and whether they had anything to say about the $6.4 million fine they are seeking from the City and County of Los Angeles.

The group’s webpage features quotations from two employees of the Shomof Group, named Diony Rebuta and Ericson Alviz. The former’s quote says “I am glad there is an Organization that is trying to stop Homelessness! Homelessness is a Major Concern on [sic] our Neighborhood.” It continues by saying “It is time to create a solution to this long time problem” before he pledges his “full support to your campaign.” Alviz’s quote is that “Homelessness is a Major Problem in Los Angeles” declaring “I am very happy that there is an organization trying to solve it” before quipping: “Keep it up!” These are featured alongside quotes from Don Steier, the group’s Chair, former Mayor Antonia Villaraigosa, and LA County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn. Groups like this in Los Angeles are where the private interest meets the public sector.

Izek Shomof then recounts how he secured a meeting and tour with businessman Bill Taormina to tour a model facility for the unhoused in Anaheim. Shomof writes that “When I walked through the facility with Bill and my sons Jonathan and Jimmy, the homeless people who were there getting help continuously thanked Bill for what he had done for them.” No one begrudges Izek Shomof his proposed Life Rebuilding Center in the now empty Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building in Boyle Heights, but wouldn’t that $6.4 million be better spent on actually helping the unhoused rather than being paid to a business interest group? Shomof says that “the homeless situation in LA was at least ten times bigger than the one in Anaheim.”

The monumental Sears Building has 1.8 million square feet. It’s unclear if the City and County of Los Angeles are even capable of operating a facility for the unhoused that large and the proposed number of served has fluctuated. Shomof even told Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano in February 2022 that “the parking lot would become the site of more than 1,000 permanent affordable housing units for people who graduate from the facility’s six-month rehabilitation program.” Arellano writes that “all of this, frankly, sounds delusional” telling Shomof “his proposal was too good to be true” with Shomof simply insisting that “It’s true.” More than two years have passed since that interview at the project site.

An attorney for Izek Shomof, Scott Leipzig from the firm Allen Matkins LLP declined to make Mr. Shomof available for interview in response to prior request insisting that Shomof is nothing but a reputable businessman and upstanding citizen via telephone. As first reported in this column, his book omits a criminal conviction in 1989 for receiving stolen property despite the book repeatedly claiming that Shomof is someone who “had every opportunity to take unethical and often-illegal shortcuts but who instead chose the lesser-trod path of honesty and integrity” in the book’s jacket. The distributor and publisher is now being sued by his brother-in-law and former business partner Patrick Wizmann over the publication with the goal of having it retracted.

Doing business with Izek Shomof can be a risky proposition as Shomof describes in Dreams Don’t Die recounting a legal dispute with a fellow businessman believed to be Naty Saidoff, the founder of Capital Foresight Management. Shomof recounts his business dispute with him in his book without naming Saidoff. Shomof writes, “In my business ventures, I almost always worked alone, but there was one partner I trusted enough to work with” describing the “purchase of three notable hotels in 2012.” He continues describing the deal which was the result of the prior owner being “in distress” and fearing losing “the property to the bank.”

Shomof didn’t have enough “money available at that moment” because of a townhome project in Beverly Hills, writing: “I needed $20 million immediately.” He then goes to his partner and offers him a 50% stake in the Spring Street project, writing that the deal offered “a potential quick $20 million to be made as profit.” He tells Saidoff, “I’m willing to share the profit with you, but on the condition that you will front the $20 million for a period of three months.” His partner agrees because as Shomof writes: “This was too good a deal to turn down, so he immediately agreed.” Shomof doesn’t get it in writing though, and the partner reportedly comes back to him saying: “Izek, I’m not going to invest $20 million for three months with a 50 percent partnership. I’m only willing to give you 20 percent.”

This doesn’t go well with Shomof who refuses to bargain, and Saidoff similarly rejects the 50% instead of 20% telling Shomof: “Take it or not. It is what it is. Either you get 20 percent or nothing.” Shomof tells him that “What you are doing is wrong…and I’m not going to tolerate it” writing, that he had “never sued anyone in more than thirty years in business” warning him: “please don’t let yourself be the first.” The partner ignores Shomof and moves ahead with the purchase by himself having sufficient capital, so Shomof writes with finality: “I had no option but to sue him.” To Shomof this isn’t imaginable with him writing that he didn’t expect the partner to “turn around and try to screw me.” Shomof attempts to resolve the dispute by offering to donate the proceeds “to a charity.”

The case goes to court with Izek Shomof alleging that he had been “defrauded” with a trial lasting over a month and Shomof prevailing. Whether the LA Alliance prevails in seeking the $6.4 million dollar fine remains to be seen, but if Dreams Don’t Die is the story of one man’s chutzpah as a businessman and a developer, you have to wonder why more people at LA City Hall aren’t reading this book by one of the city’s most powerful developers. This is kind of a mysterious realm in the City of Los Angeles, and that’s an understatement! Former Councilmember José Huizar can be seen in a 2015 photo alongside Shomof at a benefit event for the LAMP Community nonprofit, originally the Los Angeles Men’s Place. Huizar was recently sentenced to 13 years in Federal prison for accepting $1.5 million dollars in bribes from real estate project developers. Huizar smiles next to Shomof with a slight smirk on his face.

No one is saying that Izek Shomof is the same as José Huizar, but you’ve got to wonder. Did Shomof and Huizar ever meet behind closed doors to discuss projects or go gambling in Las Vegas? Shomof, according to his brother-in-law Patrick Wizmann was known to favor the Wynn Las Vegas where Huizar took Chinese businessman Wei Huang, one of the individuals behind the now virtually abandoned, graffitied Oceanwide Plaza in the South Park district of Downtown Los Angeles. Little is known about Huizar and Shomof’s interactions, and I can only hope a new Freedom of Information Act request will strike gold and bring forward the kinds of documents we saw in the Mark Ridley-Thomas corruption trial, including interview notes with the FBI and privileged emails.

Shomof writes about his former partner Saidoff: “My former partner’s behavior is not all that unusual in the business world.” He writes that, “I’ve seen it a lot, when bad people try to cover up their shameless acts with a good public relations team.” Almost ironically, he writes that “It’s like the individual has a split personality, where they make sure they’re seen giving lots of money to charities and supporting high-profile civic causes, but at the same time they are cheating and swindling in private.” This can’t help but make you wonder if Monica Rodriguez, and KDL’s Chief of Staff Jennifer Barraza with whom Shomof has an open feud in Dream’s Don’t Die with didn’t also feel exactly the same way about the LA Alliance when they stormed the “judge’s chamber.” Rodriguez and Barraza did not respond to requests for comment.

About his business dispute with Naty Saidoff, the power hungry Izek Shomof describes how “About five years after I won my case, I got a call from another real estate developer asking about his successful lawsuit. He writes: “The settlement was supposed to be confidential, but apparently word had gotten around.” Shomof seems surprised, and tells his colleague that he “couldn’t talk about it” before the unnamed man tells him: “What happened to you is the exact same thing he’s doing to me right now.” What goes around comes around in Los Angeles? We can only hope that the LA Alliance doesn’t really think they deserve a $6.4 million dollar penalty against the taxpayers.

In Dreams Don’t Die he later writes: “It’s about being thankful for what I’ve got and giving back to the city and country I love.” No one disputes that Izek Shomof likely has some good intentions, but the question of what happens next on a deal so large as the proposed Life Rebuilding Center would give anyone slight discomfort just like Gustavo Arellano told him straight up. The worst thing would be to start the project and then be unable to finish it just like has happened in Downtown Los Angeles. With rumors swirling that Rick Caruso has taken interest in converting Oceanwide Plaza into something useful, you have to wonder if Shomof and Caruso couldn’t tag-team and get one of the two projects actually done.

One letter writer to the Los Angeles Times recently wrote about the debacle, “Now is the time for him [Caruso] to step up and put his money where his mouth is” before suggesting “And of course, he could name them Caruso Towers.” Perhaps the Caruso-Shomof towers might be more appropriate provided either of them wants to actually put up the money without full funding and taxpayer dollars. The $6.4 million is a pittance in this scheme of things, the world of multi-millionaires and billionaires. Caruso has said that the Oceanwide Plaza project won’t be “profitable” and has instead suggested tearing down the existing towers to allow for new construction.

It’s not quite known how much either Rick Caruso or Izek Shomof is exactly worth, nor has the latter sought elected public office like the former. The message of Dreams Don’t Die is clear, in addition to a re-telling of his life-story first brought to a cinema near you with the 2012 self-made film For the Love of Money: “fewer homeless people, a more productive population, and happier constituents.” What happens next is anyone’s question. As Doug Smith of the Los Angeles Times writes, the most recent episode with the LA Alliance has created consternation with even the likes of Kevin de León who issued a statement saying it’s “deeply concerning” and “would attempt to renegotiate a settled agreement void of the council’s approval.”

Karen Bass’s “Inside Safe” program might not be the “Life Rebuilding Center” that Shomof seeks, but he should show her some respect and restrain the LA Alliance from punishing the City and County unduly by calling off the attorney’s and doing business with the public in the open, and not simply through a memoir that represents in the end only a self-serving business agenda with some glossy pictures tucked in before the conclusion. Los Angeles needs salvation, not chutzpah! Shomof’s attorney Scott Leipzig shamelessly accused me after Part 78 the first story on Shomof of having “an agenda here other than to report facts” to write this, nothing could be further from the truth. I’ll let you dear reader be the judge.

Link: L.A. should pay $6.4 million for slow action on cleaning homeless camps, judge is told

Link: Mayor Bass seeks $250-million expansion of homelessness program in first State of the City speech

Link: LA Alliance for Human Rights

Link: Elizabeth Mitchell

Link: Dreams Don't Die

Link: Column: Can a giant, empty Sears building help solve homelessness in Los Angeles?

Link: How Jose Huizar’s lavish Las Vegas jaunts tripped alarms for FBI in L.A. bribe case

Link: Letters to the Editor: Rick Caruso, the Oceanwide Plaza towers could use your help

Link: Why Rick Caruso didn't buy the 'graffiti towers'

Link: Part 78: A New Corruption Investigation in Los Angeles – The Case of Patrick Wizmann Versus Izek Shomof

Please support my work with your subscription or for direct aid use Venmo

Zachary Ellison is an Independent Journalist and Whistleblower in the Los Angeles area. Zach was most recently employed by the University of Southern California, Office of the Provost from October 2015 to August 2022 as an Executive Secretary and Administrative Assistant supporting the Vice Provost for Academic Operations and the Vice Provost and Senior Advisor to the Provost among others. Zach holds a Master’s in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Policy and Planning from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. While a student at USC, he worked for the USC Good Neighbors Campaign including on their newsletter distributed university-wide. Zach completed his B.A. in History at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon and was a writer, editor, and photographer for the Pasadena High School Chronicle. He was Barack Obama’s one-millionth online campaign contributor in 2008. Zach is a former AmeriCorps intern for Hawaii State Parks and worked for the City of Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation. He is a trained civil process server, and enjoys weekends in the great outdoors.