California lobbyist agrees to $500,000 fine in influence peddling probe

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Sacramento lobbyist Darius Anderson has agreed to pay a $500,000 fine in an investigation into influence peddling in New York.

Anderson’s firm, Platinum Advisors earned more than $100,000 assisting a Los Angeles equity firm secure a $50-million investment from New York’s pension fund. The New York attorney general’s office said another firm that assisted Platinum with the deal diverted $225,000 of its fee to a top aide of then-Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who was serving as head of the New York pension fund.

The aide, Hank Morris, was indicted last year on corruption charges.

-- Anthony York