LOS ANGELES _ The FBI conducted a search of the downtown headquarters of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and City Hall, officials said Monday.
"There is a search taking place at the DWP building. The affidavit in support of the search warrant is under seal by the court," said Rukelt Dalberis, an FBI spokesman in Los Angeles. Law enforcement sources said the FBI was also at Los Angeles City Hall.
A champagne-colored van was parked outside the DWP headquarters with a placard saying "FBI" and "Official Business."
No arrests have been made, a law enforcement source said.
A city spokesman declined to comment.
The search comes during an FBI investigation into L.A. City Hall. Federal investigators have cast a wide net for information about foreign investment in the city's real estate developments, according to a search warrant that names an array of political and business figures.
Among those named were Councilmen Jose Huizar and Curren Price, the former head of the Department of Building and Safety and high-level appointees of Mayor Eric Garcetti and Council President Herb Wesson. The warrant also named executives of Chinese firms bankrolling new residential and hotel towers on Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles.
The warrant does not say the FBI has gathered evidence of criminal activity by any of the people or companies named in the document. No one has been arrested or charged in the investigation.
In recent months, real estate developers with projects in Huizar's district have received federal grand jury subpoenas instructing them to turn over communications with the councilman and dozens of current and former Huizar staffers since 2013, two sources familiar with the FBI's instructions told the Los Angeles Times in January.
Huizar has not been charged in the case and he has denied any wrongdoing.
It's unclear whether Monday's searches are related to that investigation.
The DWP has been mired in its own series of scandals, including legal fallout from the agency's billing system that sent out wildly inaccurate bills, overcharging hundreds of thousands of customers. The chaos prompted lawsuits from customers and prompted the DWP to reimburse ratepayers $67 million in overcharges.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the consulting giant that implemented the billing system, alleges the city worked together with an outside attorney to select the plaintiff and the attorney who handled the class-action lawsuit over the billing snafus in an effort to get a more favorable settlement for the DWP.
