Federal officers, including FBI agents and Homeland Security Investigations personnel, swarmed Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles Thursday morning as part of a rapidly expanding criminal investigation into voter fraud tied directly to the recent mayoral election and California governor primaries.
According to the New York Post, roughly 20 federal officers flooded the crime-ridden area after homeless residents allegedly told investigators they had been paid cash to sign multiple voter registration forms, forge signatures, and fill out election paperwork ahead of Los Angeles’ mayoral race and California’s recent primary elections.
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The Department of Justice confirmed that federal agents were investigating a criminal matter, but declined to comment further.
The FBI said it does not comment on ongoing investigations, but The Post’s investigations have determined it was linked to voter fraud allegations.
The action comes after series of shocking videos emerged a week after Election Day featuring Skid Row residents claiming they were paid to vote for incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and councilwoman Nithya Raman, who edged out insurgent candidate Spencer Pratt in the primary.
In one of the clips, a man claimed he received $4 to vote for Bass.
When asked whether he would also have been paid to vote for Raman, he answered “yes” and said Pratt was not among the candidates he was encouraged to support.
“They gave you an optional choice,” claimed the voter, Kevin Shepherd, alleging he was offered $2 but negotiated for a higher payment.
He further claimed that he completed a mail-in ballot for Bass and deposited it in a ballot box.
The stunning raid comes just weeks after federal prosecutors charged and secured a guilty plea from a longtime California petition circulator who admitted paying homeless individuals on Skid Row to register to vote in violation of federal law.
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According to the Department of Justice, 64-year-old Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong was charged with one felony count of paying another person to register to vote. Prosecutors alleged that some registrants were even instructed to use an address connected to Armstrong, raising concerns about where ballots could ultimately be sent.
That case stemmed directly from the bombshell undercover investigation by the O’Keefe Media Group. Hidden camera footage captured operatives paying Skid Row homeless with cash, cigarettes, and drugs to both register to vote and forge real voters’ signatures on ballot petitions, sometimes thousands of times. O’Keefe’s team was even violently assaulted on Skid Row for exposing the scheme.
