Developer latest to plead guilty in corruption probe
San Francisco developer Reza Khoshnevisan pleaded guilty Friday to bribing city building inspection officials in return for favorable treatment, becoming the latest defendant to fall in federal investigators’ wideranging probe into municipal corruption.
In November, federal prosecutors charged Khoshnevisan, 55, with one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. They also brought charges against two of his business associates, Siavash Tahbazof and Bahman Ghassemzadeh.
In federal court papers, they said the developers plied building inspectors and plan-checkers with cash, meals and interest-free loans to receive favorable inspections and faster approvals on permits. Tahbazof, 73, and Ghassemzadeh, 39, pleaded guilty in January.
In the brief court hearing, Khoshnevisan stood before Judge Susan Illston flanked by two lawyers.
“Yes, your Honor,” he said, speaking quickly.
Initially, Khoshnevisan pleaded not guilty. He faces as much as 20 years in prison, along with a $250,000 fine and three years of probation, though prosecutors are recommending a sentence of probation and a fine of $25,000, citing his lack of any previous criminal history and because he readily cooperated with investigators.
Prosecutors are seeking a sixmonth in-home confinement for Tahbazof, and probation for Ghassemzadeh for similar reasons.
Illston warned Khoshnevisan, however, that she could impose a more significant punishment if she chose.
Khoshnevisan’s guilty plea comes amid the feds’ ongoing four-year corruption probe, which has led to convictions against some of the city’s most powerful bureaucrats, including former Department of Public Works Chief Mohammed Nuru and Harlan Kelly, the onetime general manager of the city’s Public Utilities Commission.
Prosecutors have also charged officials from the Department of Building Inspection, gaining guilty pleas from former senior building inspector Bernard “Bernie” Curran and former plan checkers Rudy Pada and Cyril Yu.
In the case of Khoshnevisan and his codefendants, prosecutors accused Tahbazof of paying bribes to Pada starting as far back as 2003, until his retirement in 2017, as well as paying similar bribes of cash, free meals, drinks and other benefits to Yu in return for rubberstamped permits. Tahbazof also pleaded guilty to providing interest-free loans to Pada and Curran and forgiving part of Curran’s loan.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Ward said that if the case went to trial, prosecutors would be able to prove that Khoshnevisan’s participation in the scheme began no later than 2012, when he also began delivering bribes to Pada.
All told, Khoshnevisan paid Pada at least $15,000 in bribes, separate from the money Ghassemzadeh and Tahbazof paid him. Khoshnevisan knew about Ghassemzadeh’s payments to Yu, as well, Ward said.
Illston asked Khoshnevisan if he’d heard Ward’s allegation. “Are those things true?” “Yes, your Honor.” Moments later, he pleaded guilty.
Khoshnevisan declined a request for comment.
He is set to return to court for sentencing on April 19, when Tahbazof and Ghassemzadeh are also set to face sentencing.