Wealthy developers avoid jail time in bribery scheme

Two wealthy San Francisco developers who spent years bribing local building officials in exchange for permit approvals and inspections will avoid jail time, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Siavash Tahbazof, 73, and his 39-year-old nephew, Bahman Ghassemzadeh, each pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of honest services wire fraud. Both men received three years probation and monetary fines, without home confinement as prosecutors had sought.

Tahbazof, a politically connected local developer, founded architectural design firm SIA Consulting and development company SST Investment. Ghassemzadeh worked as an engineer at SIA Consulting and served on the city’s Board of Examiners from 2018 to 2021.

The men — along with Tahbazof ’s business partner, Reza Khoshnevisan — were swept up in a farreaching federal corruption probe that has ensnared more than two dozen businesspeople, developers and city bureaucrats, starting in 2020 with the arrest of former Department of Public Works Chief Mohammed Nuru.

Tahbazof presided over a long-running bribery scheme that began in 2003, when he began paying off a Department of Building Inspection plan checker, Rudy Pada, with drinks, meals and cash, in exchange for plan approvals until Pada’s retirement in 2017. After Pada’s retirement, he turned to another plan checker, Cyril Yu, who resigned in March 2021. Prosecutors said

Tahbazof directed his business partner and his nephew to pay bribes to Pada and Yu.

Pada and Yu pleaded guilty earlier this year to fraud charges.

“That’s a long time to be paying bribes,” U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said, as she weighed the charges against Tahbazof. “It’s a long time to foster corruption in the housing department.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Ward called the scheme “an egregious crime” with “significant” potential harm, but noted that Tahbazof and his coconspirators approached the government before investigators had discovered their crimes, and their cooperation had helped prosecutors build cases against Curran, Pada and Yu.

“We didn’t have info about their conduct, or about Mr. Pada or Mr. Yu,” he said. “They brought that to us.”

As she sentenced Tahbazof, Illston noted his journey to the U.S. after the Iranian Revolution.

“I believe you fled your country because it had let you down,” she said.

She said it “hurts my heart” that after having come to San Francisco for sanctuary, he subverted its government through his actions.

Tahbazof spoke briefly, acknowledging his conduct and apologizing for betraying the city that he “fell in love with.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said, struggling for composure.

The charges against Tahbazof and Ghassemzadeh carried a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison and fines of as much as $250,000, though federal sentencing guidelines in their cases ranged from about 18 months to 24 months.

Attorneys for Tahbazof and Ghassemzadeh sought sentences of home confinement or probation, given that they approached prosecutors on their own and cooperated extensively with the investigation — with Tahbazof going so far as to wear a wire to aid prosecutors.

“He was not on the government’s radar,” said Tahbazof attorney Edward Swanson.

Swanson also extolled Tahbazof’s work ethic, noting he’s built hundreds of units of housing in San Francisco, including one 116-unit complex on Alemany Boulevard in which half of the units were below-market housing.

Illston sentenced Tahbazof to three years probation and a $75,000 fine, but she declined to require home confinement.

After Tahbazof’s sentencing, prosecutors and defense attorneys repeated the process with Ghassemzadeh, giving him the same probation but with a $25,000 fine.

Ward called his conduct “inexcusable” and said he should have known better.

Ghassemzadeh’s attorney Gail Shifman noted her client is a new father of a 5-month-old daughter.

Like his uncle, Ghassemzadeh spoke only briefly, describing remorse and shame for his actions. The ordeal of the case had caused health issues for both his parents, he said. He wondered what it would be like to try to explain what had happened to his daughter when she was older, he said.

“I hope she is not disappointed in me,” he said.