The exclusive conference, to be held at the Beverly Hilton in April 2023, will feature speeches from top business leaders including Earvin “Magic” Johnson, as well as poolside cocktails, canapés and a Mediterranean dinner.

Among those in attendance were several Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials, including then-Dept. of Water and Power Commissioner Cynthia McClain Hill, who opted for a $980 food, drink and gift package for the three-day event. International Utilities and Energy Conference.

City ethics rules meant that McClain-Hill was not permitted to accept large gifts from Accenture, the conference's organizers, because the global consulting firm has multimillion-dollar contracts with the DWP.

She also couldn't claim the $980 package from the DWP because it was well above the $60-a-day limit that civil servants can claim for meals while on duty.

Eventually, some DWP and Accenture employees found a way for the DWP to cover the costs by falsely labeling invoices to McLain-Hill and another DWP employee, according to current and former DWP employees.

The claims regarding the billing statements were first raised by a former DWP contractor in a grievance filed by the California State Bar against McClain Hill and in a lawsuit against DWP by employees alleging retaliation and harassment by McClain Hill.

McClain Hill has denied any wrongdoing and has also denied any wrongdoing in connection with the lawsuit.

“My attendance at a multi-day conference hosted by Accenture for its global public sector clients was entirely related to my role at DWP and had no personal objectives or goals,” she said in an email.

She added that she had “requested departmental approval through normal staff channels” to cover the costs of the conference.

DWP records show that Ms McClain-Hill and her colleagues voted in favour of at least three contracts with Accenture during her five and a half years on the DWP board.

Accenture president Joseph Dickie declined to comment, and a DWP spokesman declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.

Brad Gage, a lawyer representing former DWP officials in the case, said the department's handling of the bills was “morally wrong”.

The DWP has been plagued by scandal in recent years, with two former executives given prison sentences for their role in a bribery scheme and a former commissioner facing disciplinary action from the State Bar over alleged payments.

Ms McLain-Hill, a lawyer and former police commissioner, resigned as DWP director in January after an incident involving private conversations with a DWP contractor was reported in The Times.

Emails reviewed by The Times show that managers at Accenture, which has invoiced the DWP for more than $5 million in cybersecurity and technology contracts in recent years, worked closely with the DWP to relabel invoices for $980 in food, drink and gift packages.

Accenture initially submitted invoices headed “food and drink” charges to Mr McLain Hill and DWP director Winifred Yancey, who attended the meeting at Mr McLain Hill's request.

Accenture then submitted new invoices to both employees, at the request of DWP officials, for “conference registration” fees, when in fact there was no charge for attendance at the meetings.

Labeling the invoice as a “registration” may have helped ensure that DWP reimbursed Accenture because the city covered the costs of employees attending the informational meetings.

Records seen by The Times showed that invoices for “meeting registrations” were only submitted to Ms McClain-Hill and Mr Yancey, and not to other DWP staff who attended the meetings.

One conference attendee, who did not sign up for the $980 package and asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, told The Times that the event offered plenty of free food, snacks and water.

In April, during a deposition in the lawsuit against DWP, lawyers asked McClain-Hill about the Accenture invoices, and she refused to answer, citing a possible investigation by the city's ethics commission.

A representative for the ethics committee declined to comment, citing a policy of not confirming or denying any investigations.

Michelle Smith, business development director at Accenture, invited McLain Hill to a meeting on March 16, 2023, according to internal DWP emails seen by The Times.

In a follow-up email to DWP staff a few days later, Smith said no “meeting fees” had been incurred.

She also said she had the option to decline a food, beverage and “little swag” package valued at $980, given “the importance of compliance with respect to our government client attendees.”

According to the city's ethics code, city commissioners who vote on contracts can accept gifts of up to $100 a year from contractors such as Accenture.

According to the email, Ms McClain-Hill sought advice from DWP general counsel Julie Reilly about attending the meeting.

“Is it OK to do this or does it violate the gift rules,” McClain Hill wrote to Riley in an email on March 16, 2023.

Riley responded that the conference was informational and therefore free registration was not a gift, but hospitality did fall into the category of a gift, Riley wrote.

Reilly advised McClain Hill to accept up to $100 worth of food and beverages from Accenture, or even more, and repay the company with her own money.

Ms. McClain Hill then emailed DWP officials saying she wanted to pay for the entertainment package and instructed them to invite Mr. Yancey, the utility's president of energy and electrification.

A few days before the meeting, Accenture's Smith sent the DWP a $980 invoice labelled “food and drink” from McClain Hill.

But McClain Hill refused to pay, emails show.

“There is a budget for this, and it will be paid for by the State Department, not me personally,” McClain-Hill wrote in a letter to aides.

Several DWP officials exchanged multiple emails about how to deal with the situation, at one point even considering using the DWP credit card.

“Could you please guide me as to how to get these invoices paid?” one staff member wrote to his boss.

On March 31, 2023, LaTanya Bogin of the DWP emailed Accenture's Smith, requesting to speak by phone.

A few minutes later, Bogin emailed Smith again.

“Thank you for calling. Could you please send me an invoice stating the following: Conference registration fees for Cynthia McClain Hill and Winifred Yancey, $980 each,” wrote Bogin, who was then executive director and president of DWP's retirement plans.

Accenture Managing Director Amanda Nichols sent the invoice a few hours later.

Bogin did not respond to The Times' request for comment, and Yancey, who has retired from the DWP, declined to comment.

Ms McClain-Hill resigned in January after The Times reported criticism directed at her and then-DWP chairman Mel Levin over a secretly recorded phone call in 2019 between two executives from a cybersecurity company outlining plans for a new contract with the DWP.

City ethics laws prohibit commissioners from privately reviewing contracts with vendors, and attorneys for McClain Hill and Levine said the decision was appropriate.

The call was apparently recorded by Paul Paradis, a former DWP contractor and now cooperating witness, who also filed a complaint against McClain Hill with the State Bar over the Accenture invoices and other allegations.

While Ms. McClain-Hill supported some of the Accenture contracts, she did not always act in the company's favor. Five months before the meeting, Ms. McClain-Hill led directors in delaying an $11 million contract with the company after questions were raised about whether the deal had been properly vetted by DWP lawyers.

Jamie York of UNLIG LA, a government transparency advocate who reviewed internal emails about the meeting at The Times' request, said public officials have a duty to spend funds wisely.

“We have a public servant who cares more about his own personal comfort than his fiduciary responsibility to the city,” York said of McClain-Hill.