The homes and offices of Ontario Councilman and mayoral candidate Alan Wapner and Fourth District San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman were the targets of raids by the FBI, the Sentinel has learned.

Both politicians have long been the focus of investigations into pay-to-play politics within the Inland Empire community where they serve as elected officials, as well as their efforts on behalf of foreign governments, corporations and business interests, including the secreting of what was alleged to be bribe money into the country.

The raids relating to Wapner and Hagman took place inside and outside San Bernardino County, where the duo are both career politicians based in the Fourth Supervisorial District, the most geographically compact and densely populated of the county’s five subjurisdictions. San Bernardino County’s Fourth District includes the entirety of the cities of Chino Hills, Chino, Montclair and Ontario, the southern portion of Upland and the unincorporated communities of as well as the Carbon Canyon, Velano, Yorba, West End, Prado, Narod, Ballou, Racimo and Guasti. Hagman’s career as a politician began with his election to the city council and later ascension to mayor, followed by his election the California Assembly, his acceding to the position of chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee, and his election as Fourth District San Bernardino County Supervisor and reelection to that post three time. Wapner, who was employed as a police officer, detective and later a sergeant with the Ontario Police Department, began his political career as a member of the Ontario-Montclair School District Board and was first elected to the Ontario City Council in 1994, having been reelected to that post seven times. He is currently vying for Ontario mayor.
In carrying out the raids, FBI agents were seeking evidence and documentation pertaining to quid pro quos – bribes or kickbacks – provided to Wapner and Hagman by individuals, business entities, business owners and principals in businesses which had applications for project approval with the city or the county, which were competing for contracts with the city or county or which were seeking franchises granted by the city or county that ultimately were subject to approval by the Ontario City Council or the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.
In addition, federal agents were seeking instruments or documents relating to Wapner’s and Hagman’s overseas banking activity, most particularly involving financial institutions in the People’s Republic of China, and their ability to access those accounts or transfer money, as well as account codes, pr platform access and management tools for crytocurrency exchanges.