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During his time at City Hall, Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan forged a reputation as someone who cut red tape and cleared away obstacles for real estate developers behind some of the city’s biggest projects.

While working for Mayor Eric Garcetti, Chan was also contacting some of those same developers for donations to a charitable cause: the 2017 celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Chan raised tens of thousands of dollars for the celebration from developers seeking approvals or awaiting building inspections, according to correspondence obtained by The Times. In a series of emails to a city council aide, Chan said he had reached out to at least seven firms and businessmen, including four working to bring new skyscrapers to downtown Los Angeles.

“Hopefully, we will wrap up the $80,000 in a week or two,” he wrote in an April 2017 email, a copy of which was obtained by The Times through the California Public Records Act.

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