Ousted Commerce city manager’s kickback scheme cheated city out of millions

Former Commerce City Manager Edgar Cisneros collected up to $120,000 in a kickback scheme that cheated the city out of potentially millions of dollars in rent at the peak of demand for tractor-trailer parking amid the pandemic-era gridlock at Los Angeles County’s ports, according to an unsealed plea agreement and a Southern California News Group investigation.

Cisneros has admitted to federal investigators that he took bribes of up to $10,000 per month in 2021 and 2022 in exchange for renting two of the city’s empty lots for a total of $2,700 per month to a company that subleased them to hundreds of desperate haulers. By comparison, a recent assessment of the largest property — a roughly 14.4-acre lot at 6007 Telegraph Road — estimated the market rate at $156,000 to $282,000 per month.

The low end of that rate would have generated nearly $2 million in annual revenue from the single property, but, thanks to Cisneros’ alleged scheme, City Hall collected only $12,000 for the first year of the lease, records showed.

A secret plea deal

Cisneros secretly pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge on Nov. 6, 2023, less than two weeks before the Commerce City Council, frustrated with the controversies surrounding the city manager and seemingly unaware of the federal charges, agreed to pay him $214,000 to resign.

His guilty plea did not become public until earlier this month.

In a Dec. 20 statement published in response to questions from the Southern California News Group, city officials stated they would review the severance agreement and are “exploring all options to recover funds or damages resulting from any wrongdoing.”

“The City is currently conducting a comprehensive review of all leases and agreements involving city-owned properties to ensure they align with market rates and legal standards,” the statement reads. “This includes examining past leases and tenant compliance to address any irregularities.”

Origin of parking scheme

Cisneros, as part of the plea agreement unsealed Dec. 5, told the FBI he met with a Los Angeles-based consultant, identified as “Person 25,” in 2021 and asked the consultant to “find a company to clean up and remove debris” from 6007 Telegraph in exchange for a “no-bid lease” until Commerce sold the land. The consultant then had to hire and pay $10,000 per month to another individual, identified as “Person 26,” according to the agreement.

“After each payment, Person 26 would go to defendant’s home and give most of the money to defendant,” the plea agreement states. “In total, defendant estimates that Person 26 received approximately $100,000 to $120,000 from Person 25, the vast majority of which was provided to defendant.”

Under the terms, Cisneros is required to cooperate with the FBI’s ongoing investigation into a cannabis bribery scheme spanning across the Southland. Cisneros admitted to taking $25,000 meant to influence Commerce’s own selection of cannabis companies in 2018 and to separately helping to funnel $45,000 in bribes to former Baldwin Park Councilmember Ricardo Pacheco.

Cheap rents discovered in 2022

A Southern California News Group investigation published in December 2022 first detailed the low rents offered by Cisneros. At the time, real estate experts estimated each acre could have brought in $30,000 to $50,000 per month due to the massive demand for truck parking during the pandemic.

Cisneros, at the time, claimed the the truck company using the land, Fenix Entrepreneur, received the significantly below market rates because it spent roughly $525,000 cleaning up debris and dirt illegally dumped at 6007 Telegraph over the years. While satellite images did confirm the land was leveled, the city could not produce any documentation showing the cost, nor could it answer where the materials went.

Fenix Entreprenur’s owner, Martin Fierro referred questions to his attorney, Michael Zweiback.

Zweiback would not confirm whether the trucking company mentioned in the plea agreement is Fenix. Public records listed Fenix on the leases and indicated it paid $1,000 per month for 6007 Telegraph and $1,700 per month for 6241 Telegraph, respectively, during the time frame outlined in Cisneros’ agreement.

“We deny any implication that there was any criminal conduct,” Zweiback said. “There have been no charges, we don’t expect charges, and there are no facts to support charges.”

He declined to answer specific questions about the leases, or Fierro’s other businesses.

“Mr. Fierro has always followed the law and what is required of him with respect to any properties that he has leased,” Zweiback said. “We believe that will be proven throughout this process.”

Two men had a history

Fierro’s businesses have benefited from Cisneros and his public agencies for nearly a decade. Cisneros originally served on the Montebello Unified school board in 2015 when Fenix received a district lease to host a swap meet at a shuttered school site in Commerce.

Then, a cannabis company backed by Fierro was one of 24 approved to operate in Commerce in 2018, even though it was subject to disqualification because its application missed key deadlines, according to records reviewed by the Southern California News Group.

Parking lots galore

At the peak of the truck parking frenzy, Fenix paid $15,000 monthly for up to 26 acres of Commerce’s land, through agreements largely approved by Cisneros without City Council involvement.

Fenix’s parking empire expanded to private properties, too, thanks to help from Commerce City Hall. A top Commerce official, either Cisneros or Assistant City Manager Vilko Domic, in late 2021 persuaded one developer with an 850-unit mixed-use project before the City Council to temporarily rent land to Fenix to help deter homeless encampments.

That arrangement led to a $126,750 fine from the county — negotiated down from $5 million — because the Gage Avenue property near Veterans Memorial Park is a former landfill requiring county approval for future uses.

City Hall was so close to the matter the county believed Commerce ran the lot and initially named it as a defendant in a lawsuit. The developer’s subsequent termination letter was addressed to “Fenix Entrepreneur, Inc. c/o Edgar Cisneros, Vilko Domic, the City of Commerce,” emails showed.

Two of the contention points in the county’s lawsuit revolved around a stockpile of gravel and what appeared to be imported soil spread across the lot.

Similar questions have recently cropped up about materials left behind at 6241 Telegraph, according to sources close to the matter. The land partially sold to Craig Realty, the developer behind the Citadel Outlets, and is set to be used for In-N-Out Burger and Chick-fil-A franchises.

Commerce could be on the hook for the costs of the remediation.

The city, in its statement, acknowledged “environmental concerns related to certain properties and is evaluating any outstanding issues or liabilities,” but would not answer specific questions.

“If any remediation is required, we will work with the appropriate agencies to address the situation responsibly,” the statement reads.

Leases changed hands

The leases with Fenix in 2021 and 2022 quietly shifted to other companies — many of which had ties to Fierro — after the Southern California News Group’s original investigation.

While Fenix no longer directly leases any city-owned property today, Fierro remains heavily involved in Commerce. The businessman is known locally for hosting turkey, toy and back-to-school giveaways and city officials continued to promote and frequent his ventures even after Cisneros’ exit.

Councilmember Oralia Rebollo hosted a “Tacos & Tequila” re-election fundraiser at the Commerce Commissary Market owned by Fierro in September, according to a flier and her campaign disclosures. Councilmember Hugo Argumedo, while mayor in 2023, appeared in a wordy promotion for CCM’s grand opening on the city’s Facebook typically used to promote official events and programs.

In February, Councilmember Ivan Altamirano listed a more than $100,000 stake in CCM on his financial disclosures, though now the city’s new mayor says the partnership with Fierro never finalized, according to a statement. Altamirano, the owner of an air conditioning company, said he received a $22,000 check from Fierro to reimburse him for the costs of having air conditioning units installed at the market, but he did not make any profit and estimated he may have lost money overall. An invoice and receipts provided by Altamirano in early 2023 appeared to match the check’s total.

“In my professional business capacity, with respect and in compliance with regulatory and transparency regulations, Mr. Fierro and I initially discussed the possibility of creating a market/restaurant that would serve as a vibrant hub for our community,” Altamirano said in a statement. The city councilmember listed the partnership as an asset on his disclosures preemptively because the two men had discussed him taking a 10% stake if the project moved forward, he said.

“However, this idea never materialized and no ownership or partnership was ever established,” Altamirano stated. “I made the decision to respectfully step away from this project.”

Current leases tied to Fierro

Two entities still leasing property from City Hall have connections to Fierro.

In October 2022, Cisneros began leasing a city-owned parking lot and warehouse at 7025 Slauson Ave. to the Amitim Group LLC, a company registered to a man working for Fierro at the time, for $13,300 per month, over other interested parties.

A senior vice president at CBRE told Domic, the assistant city manager, in emails that same month that he believed he could find a tenant willing to pay up to $130,000 in rent and later reiterated a similar rate this January. Separately, Colliers International hounded Domic about leasing or buying the property through an “aggressive offer,” according to an email chain spanning from January 2022 to August 2024.

In an interview, Domic noted the Slauson property is a redevelopment asset, requiring the city to go through a lengthy process for disposal, and said the city was and still is weighing whether to retain it for the Public Works Department.

The liquor wholesaler

So far, Commerce has stuck with a company that operated without a business license.

Amitim opened L.A. Wholesalers, a bulk seller of liquor and food products, in October 2023, but — more than a year later — the business is still working on obtaining a license, according to city officials.

The Amitim Group is registered to Azael “Sal” Martinez Sonoqui, who described himself as the “asst. clerk to Mr. Fierro” in emails the same month that Cisneros approved the original lease.

Though Fierro is not mentioned in Amitim’s business filings, he previously listed L.A. Wholesalers’ website in the introduction section on his personal Facebook page, advertised store specials and answered questions about the available products alongside posts about his other businesses earlier this year. A truck and a van with CCM’s logo were parked on the property in May.

Commerce renewed its lease with Amitim this October and increased the rent to $85,000 per month after obtaining a market rate analysis for the first time.

The second entity, Abee Trucking Logistics, is now renting the 14.4-acre Telegraph Road lot mentioned in Cisneros’ plea agreement, and is owned by Sonoqui’s son, records show. Abee Trucking formed less than two weeks before Cisneros agreed to lease to it in February 2023, according to the secretary of state’s website.

The lease agreement, starting at $25,000 per month, included automatic increases to $50,000 in August 2023 and to the current rate of $100,000 in August 2024.

Commerce initially sent termination letters to both Abee and Amitim, along with several other tenants brought in by Cisneros, in late 2023. All of the leases were supposed to end on Dec. 31, 2023; however, Abee and Amitim never left.

In February, Domic, then-serving as interim city manager, told a reporter he planned to negotiate new leases with those entities to bring the rents up to market rate. However, he did not request a market rate analysis for either property until nearly six months later, emails obtained in a public records request showed.

It took two more months after that before the City Council approved the increase.

The same rate assessment used to increase Amitim’s rent also estimated the city could get $220,000 per month for the 14.4-acre lot rented to Abee Trucking for half that amount.

In an interview, Domic said the assessments were delayed because he was busy overseeing multiple departments, on top of serving as interim city manager for the first few months of the year. The rent for Abee “seems appropriate” for a short-term lease, he said.

The company offered to begin paying $150,000 in January, according to an Aug. 27 presentation released by the city, but the City Council has yet to vote publicly to accept the new terms.

New City Manager Ernie Hernandez, hired in late April, has been reviewing the city’s properties since he came on board and plans to bring his findings to the City Council in the future, Domic said in the interview.

“We just wanted to get a good assessment of what took place,” he said.

Commerce, in its Dec. 20 statement, confirmed it is evaluating “all agreements and transactions linked to the former city manager to determine any necessary actions” and is working to “ensure all leases reflect fair market value.”

“The City of Commerce is committed to transparency and ensuring that all matters related to city operations are handled with the utmost integrity,” the statement reads. “The City Council is gathering and analyzing all relevant available information in preparation to discuss these issues and consider measures to strengthen oversight and prevent similar incidents in the future.”