DOJ: San Francisco trash company to pay $36M for bribery

The trash disposal companies that serve San Francisco have agreed to pay a $36 million criminal penalty for their role in a wide-ranging federal public corruption probe involving the city’s former public works director.

The three subsidiaries of Recology Inc. admitted to conspiring to bribe the former director and agreed to cooperate in investigations for three years in exchange for the government deferring prosecution, acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds announced Thursday. A judge must sign off on the agreement.

Prosecutors say the companies, which have a monopoly in San Francisco, conspired to bribe Mohammed Nuru from 2014 through January 2020, when the then-director of the Department of Public Works was arrested and charged with fraud.