Codefendant will cooperate in Nuru case
The codefendant of former San Francisco Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru agreed to plead guilty to felony charges and cooperate with federal investigators as they continue probing corruption at City Hall, officials said Wednesday.
In a plea deal, restaurateur Nick Bovis will admit to committing honest services wire fraud and wire fraud — crimes that carry a maximum 20year prison sentence. Bovis, 56, the owner of Lefty O’Doul’s, was originally charged in January along with Nuru with attempting to bribe an unnamed San Francisco airport commissioner.
A cooperating defendant who is so close to the main defendants could play a crucial role in building the FBI’s case, and could lead to more arrests, said Tony Brass, a former U.S. attorney who now works as a criminal defense attorney in San Francisco.
“In a corruption scheme like this, I don’t think anyone has a feeling that the original indictment captured everybody,” Brass said. “But what we don’t know is how much this cooperator knows.”
Brass said there is no guarantee that Bovis’ assistance will win him a more lenient sen
tence. In federal cases, prosecutors compare the defendant’s information against what they already know and factor the value of any new corroborated information into a recommendation.
A hearing has been requested for May 21 to allow Bovis to plead guilty by videoconference to both charges, authorities said. Bovis signed a plea agreement that requires him to cooperate with federal investigators and surrender assets acquired through illegal activity, authorities said.
Besides a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, Bovis could face fines of $250,000 for each count. His attorneys, Michael Stepanian and Gil Eisenberg, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Details of the new charges were filed under seal but the office of David Anderson, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, provided some specifics in a release.
The new filing alleges Bovis began participating in an honest services wire fraud scheme “in or about 2015 and continuing through on or about January 28, 2020.” It alleges Bovis “participated in … a scheme to defraud the public of its right to the honest services of public officials, through bribery and kickbacks,” authorities said.
The separate charge of wire fraud alleges Bovis participated in a scheme beginning in April 2018 and used wire communications to further the scheme, authorities said.
Bovis and Nuru were originally arrested in late January and charged with one count of wire fraud in a federal complaint that alleged they were involved in a number of corruption schemes involving city resources.
The complaint alleged that beginning in January 2018, Nuru and Bovis attempted to bribe an airport commissioner in order to win a bid for the right to open a restaurant at San Francisco International Airport.
Nuru and Bovis, according to the January complaint, schemed to give the unnamed airport commissioner $5,000 in cash and a free trip in exchange for voting for the restaurant lease, authorities said. But the airport commissioner declined to accept the cash and the scheme fell apart, authorities said.
The January complaint also alleged that Nuru tried to acquire for Bovis a retail space lease at the Transbay transit center using his thenposition with the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, and that Nuru gave Bovis an advantage toward bidding on contracts by providing him inside information on specifications for public toilets and homeless shelters.
Nuru was separately accused of accepting gifts from a billionaire Chinese developer in exchange for help with a development project in San Francisco and of lying to the FBI after being arrested Jan. 21 and told to keep quiet about the investigation.
Nuru resigned as San Francisco public works director on Feb. 10, but federal authorities and the city attorney and controller’s office continued investigations into public corruption.
San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney, who has been among the most outspoken critics of Nuru and the perceived corrosive culture in City Hall, said Bovis’ cooperation could have an impact.
“Nick Bovis has long held close relationships with people at the highest levels of San Francisco government,” Haney said. “Those relationships were clearly exploited extensively for his personal benefit, and to the detriment of the public interest.
“I’m sure he has a lot to say and I hope he shares it all. This will hopefully help lead to the truth coming out, and any corruption within city government fully exposed.”
Supervisor Hillary Ronen said: “We haven’t forgotten that this problem of deep corruption remains in the City and County of San Francisco. I believe San Franciscans want answers and they want resolution more than anything else. Hopefully this news gets us closer to that point.”