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# Councilman’s bank records handed to DA
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/councilmans-bank-records-handed-to-da/
- Published: 2003-08-11T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:42:52.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Charges against Feinstein could be filed next month*

Criminal probe into alleged money mishandling goes to Los Angeles DA The saga of City Councilman Mike Feinstein’s handling of $30,000 in Green Party funds looked like an inside political spat when it began. But now it’s up to the Los Angeles District Attorney to decide if he’s guilty of misappropriating the money.

Feinstein’s bank records, which were seized by police in July after he failed to voluntarily produce them, were handed over to the DA’s public integrity division late last month. LA Deputy District Attorney Richard Ceballos is in charge of the investigation.

Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the DA’s office, said this stage in the investigation typically marks the halfway point. Once Ceballos has reviewed all the evidence, he can either file charges, ask for further investigation or drop the case.

“We’re looking into it,” said Gibbons, adding that property recovered with search warrants typically raises more questions that merit investigation.

Ceballos is on vacation in August, but Gibbons said investigators can work on the case in his absence. She expects to be able to make an announcement in early September.

Feinstein is accused of depositing party contributions into a private account and using them to fund an unsanctioned Green Party office in Santa Monica.

Despite his repeated promises to Green Party officials to open his bank records and prove he used the funds for Green Party business, Feinstein failed to do so before Santa Monica Police seized them.

Feinstein has insisted all along that he didn’t misuse the money and that he’s a victim of political jockeying within the Green Party. He didn’t return calls seeking comment for this story. head in March, when former Green Party treasurer and councilman Bob Morris sparked the criminal probe.

Morris brought his complaint to police, alleging Feinstein deposited a $10,000 check that was made out to the Green Party of Los Angeles County into a private account under Feinstein’s control.

Morris also lodged a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Committee, the state agency that regulates campaign funding. FPPC officials do not comment on complaints until they are resolved and they’ve said nothing to date.

During his investigation, SMPD Lt. Mike Beautz interviewed Morris, fellow Green and Santa Monica City Councilman Kevin McKeown and Bill Pietz, a former Green Party member and donor who wrote the $10,000 check in question.

Though the criminal investigation focuses solely on the $10,000 check, Los Angeles County Green Party officials have accused Feinstein of taking $30,000 to run an unauthorized Green Party office at 2809 Pico Blvd.

The search warrant for the bank account, signed June 23 by Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins, said the investigation thus far “tends to show a felony has been committed.”

The Green Party of California also investigated Feinstein in August 2001 over donations that were made out to the GPLAC but deposited into a personal bank account. The state party urged Feinstein to withdraw from Green Party work earlier this year until he makes public what happened to the money.

He has ignored that request. Feinstein refuses to say much about the case, but previously characterized the dispute as something of a power squabble over his party role.

During the state Green Party investigation, Feinstein told officials he spent the money on a five-month advance for the local office. But GPLAC officials said the money was never intended for the office and returned checks show the GPLAC paid only $500 monthly in rent, according to the search warrant. That would mean Feinstein apparently has not accounted for $7,500.

The $10,000 check, written in January of 2001, was originally meant to be spent on voter registration, printing of pamphlets and brochures and candidate searches, though Pietz said he left it up to the Green Party’s county council to decide how best to spend it.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 11, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/081103.pdf?ref=smdp.com)