State Sen. Lieu said he’s cooperating with federal probe as witness

SACRAMENTO -- State Sen. Ted W. Lieu (D-Torrance) said Thursday that he has been interviewed by federal investigators who are undertaking a public corruption investigation at the Capitol but said he was assured he is a witness in the building case, not the target.

The investigation surfaced in June when FBI agents raided the office of state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon (D-Montebello) as they looked into his finances.

Calderon allegedly accepted $60,000 in improper payments from an undercover FBI agent as part of a sting operation in which he sought changes in a film tax credit program and worker’s compensation rules, the television network Al Jazeera reported Wednesday, citing what it said was a sealed federal affidavit.

“This past summer, I was contacted by representatives of the United States attorney’s office in connection with the investigation of California state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon and others for possible official corruption,” Lieu said in a statement.

Lieu, who has served as a prosecutor in the United States Air Force, said he is fully cooperating with the federal probe.

“I was interviewed by authorities,” Lieu told The Times in an interview. “They informed me I am not a target or a subject. I do not have a [Grand Jury] subpoena but I did answer questions as a witness.”

The state senator disputed comments attributed to Calderon in the affidavit that he was able to convince Lieu to drop a bill that banned separate payments by the workers compensation system for spinal implants. The Lieu bill could have reduced the profits of medical company owner Michael Drobot, which the affidavit also alleges made improper payments to Calderon.

“SB 959 was merged and incorporated word for word into a larger and more comprehensive workers compensation reform package that was signed into law,” Lieu said Wednesday.

Lieu also addressed his co-signing of a letter with Calderon that asked the Senate leadership to support a proposal to provide “a tax incentive to smaller film productions in which production costs are less than $1 million.”

An undercover FBI agent, posing as a film studio operator, said in the affidavit he paid Calderon bribes in exchange for Calderon seeking the tax credit change. Lieu said Wednesday the letter contained proposals by him that had nothing to do with film tax credits, which were a proposal of Calderon’s.

He said that Calderon approached him about supporting the film tax credit proposals and he agreed to include them in the letter. “I didn’t know what a small production tax credit was until he came to me,” Lieu said.

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patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com