San Francisco: FBI agent says Mayor Lee looked at in corruption investigation
Mayor Ed Lee was a target in the federal corruption investigation into the Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow racketeering case that led to a prison sentence for former state Sen. Leland Yee and criminal charges against some of Lee’s campaign staff, an FBI agent testified in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday.
While no criminal charges were filed against Lee, FBI Special Agent Ethan Quinn said under questioning that Lee and his 2011 campaign for mayor were targets of a bribery investigation that eventually led to charges against three local officials. An affidavit of the case filed by prosecutors last year indicated the mayor was no longer a focus.
Quinn was asked whether he was authorized to target Lee, but court was sent into recess before he could answer.
His testimony came on the fourth day of a preliminary hearing for former Human Rights Commissioner Nazly Mohajer; Zula Jones, a former commission staffer; and former San Francisco school board President Keith Jackson.
Jones and Mohajer are accused of conspiring with Jackson to solicit bribes from an FBI agent posing as a corrupt businessman who sought access and favorable treatment from Lee. Transcripts of secretly taped conversations quoted them as arranging and accepting more than $20,000 in campaign contributions from the agent in an alleged payto-play scheme.
The 61-page affidavit filed last year in Superior Court showed investigators putting most of the blame on Jackson, who pushed the idea that the agent should give money to help the newly elected Lee repay his campaign debts. He brought in Mohajer and Jones, who acted as fundraisers for Lee, to help, the affidavit said.
The affidavit said Lee made no promises and gave no indication he was aware that the agent had already contributed money to his campaign. Lee has denied wrongdoing.
Jones, Mohajer and Jackson were charged with four counts of bribery and one count of money laundering for their roles in the alleged scheme.
Jackson, who was sentenced to nine years in federal prison in connection to the federal racketeering case involving Chow, is also charged in the current case with grand theft of public money and campaign finance fraud.
“The mayor has been thoroughly vindicated and this, once again, proves the mayor did nothing wrong,” said Lee spokeswoman Deirdre Hussey. “Judge (Charles) Breyer has previously stated that there ‘was no evidence whatsoever’ of wrongdoing. The Ethics Commission even conducted a comprehensive audit of the campaign’s finances and determined there was full compliance.”
Lee has since relinquished $1,500 in questionable contributions and turned them over to the city’s general fund.
Jones’ attorney, John Keker, spent much of his cross-examination of Quinn on Tuesday questioning the ethics behind some of the FBI undercover work that led to his client’s arrest.
“Did you see anything wrong with it?” Keker asked, regarding a conversation in which an undercover agent represented himself as someone looking to build senior housing.
“What do you mean by ‘wrong?’ ” Quinn said.
“Is there anything immoral about it?”
“I’m not a philosophy major,” Quinn said.
Keker asked, “Are you aware that Judge Breyer found that Mayor Lee had done nothing wrong?”
When Assistant District Attorney Kelly Burke objected to that question, Keker rephrased it: “Do you believe the evidence in this case shows that Mayor Lee has done anything wrong?”
Judge Tracie Brown sustained Burke’s objections, and Quinn never answered the questions.