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California State Sen. Leland Yee Pleads Not Guilty To Racketeering Charge

California State Sen. Leland Yee Pleads Not Guilty To Racketeering Charge

By Jeremy B. White, The Sacramento Bee

SAN FRANCISCO — Suspended state Sen. Leland Yee Thursday pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges newly added to a federal case accusing him of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes and offering to set up international arms deals.

Dressed in a grey suit and purple tie, his hair slicked back, the San Francisco Democrat remained silent as his attorney James Lassart entered the plea.

Lassart quickly ushered his client out of the courtroom after, declining to talk to reporters.

In adding racketeering to the litany of charges against Yee, prosecutors are arguing that the suspended senator’s secretary of state campaign functioned as a criminal enterprise. According to an indictment, Yee sought money to erase debt from a failed mayoral run and fund his secretary of state campaign. Those imperatives led him to try and extract money from various undercover agents, prosecutors allege.

Yee accepted money in exchange for helping a fake business win state contracts; influencing medical marijuana legislation; issuing a proclamation for a Chinatown organization prosecutors link to criminal activity; and offering to facilitate an international arms deal, according to the indictment.

Those alleged transgressions surfaced in the initial round of indictments. Along with the racketeering charges, prosecutors have added more pay-for-play allegations. They now say Yee solicited money in exchange for influencing bills to extend the life of the state athletic commission and make it more difficult for professional athletes to file worker’s compensation claims in California.

If convicted on all counts, Yee could be sentenced to up to 165 years in prison and be on the hook for penalties worth as much as $2.25 million.

Photo: Bay Area News Group/MCT/Karl Mondon

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‘Shrimp Boy’ Pleads Not Guilty In Sweep That Ensnared California Lawmaker

‘Shrimp Boy’ Pleads Not Guilty In Sweep That Ensnared California Lawmaker

By Lee Romney, Los Angeles Times

SAN FRANCISCO — Chinatown figure Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court here in connection with a sweeping corruption probe that also ensnared state Sen. Leland Yee.

Chow, who heads a Chinatown organization called the Chee Kung Tong, was charged with eight counts of money laundering, one count of conspiracy to sell stolen liquor and one count of trafficking in illegal cigarettes.

Federal prosecutors say Chow, a felon with a criminal history that includes racketeering, is running a front for organized crime. His backers, who have sported bright red “Free Shrimp Boy” T-shirts, claim he is a civic activist who has reformed his ways.

Chow recently added Bay Area trial attorney J. Tony Serra to his team.

Serra wears threadbare suits, has a legendary theatrical courtroom style and is a self-proclaimed “tax protester” who recently served time in federal prison for tax evasion. He has lashed out at prosecutors, calling the case classic “entrapment” and a collection of crimes “fabricated” by the FBI with taxpayer money.

The 1989 motion picture “True Believer,” starring James Woods, was based on Serra and his success in winning the acquittal of a Chinatown man charged with murder.

Serra has been asserting his client’s innocence on camera and has pledged to take the case to trial, and was recently asked by San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phil Matier and Andrew Ross about Serra’s conspicuously missing teeth.

His reply: They were knocked out when he was a boxer at Stanford University and his replacements broke a while back when he “took a bite into a piece of rabbit.”

So why not get new ones?

“I haven’t had time, but to tell you the truth, part of me feels that getting new teeth conflicts with my self-image as a natural man,” Serra said. “Besides, it always helps when a lawyer is visually distinct. People will say, ‘That Tony Serra may not have all his teeth, but you really ought to hear what he has to say.’ ”

The federal case involves more than two dozen defendants, among them Yee’s political fundraiser, Keith Jackson, who also worked as a consultant to the Chee Kung Tong.

Several, including Yee, have already pleaded not guilty. Yee (D-San Francisco) who has been suspended with pay, faces multiple counts of defrauding citizens of his honest services by allegedly soliciting and taking campaign contributions in exchange for political favors. He is also charged with conspiring to traffic in guns without a license.

Justin Brockie/ Flickr 

California Lawmaker Charged In Corruption Case Could Have Been Entrapped, Lawyer Says

California Lawmaker Charged In Corruption Case Could Have Been Entrapped, Lawyer Says

By Josh Richman and Aaron Kinney, San Jose Mercury News

SAN FRANCISCO — California state Sen. Leland Yee, accused of trafficking in illegal weapons and fraud, could have been pushed into brokering an arms deal, his attorney said Monday.

It was only toward the end of a three-year investigation that federal undercover agents pushed hard for Yee to set up an arms deal, said Yee’s attorney, Paul DeMeester, after a morning federal court hearing to discuss which of Yee’s assets will be used to guarantee his $500,000 bond.

“Entrapment is always a defense you can consider, but we have to look at all the evidence,” DeMeester said after the brief hearing. Yee was in court but did not comment before, during or after the hearing.

“I observe that this investigation has been going on since 2011,” DeMeester said, “so a very good question is what took three years. It raises a question of allocation of scarce federal resources; it raises questions of fairness to Leland Yee and to the public.”

He declined to say whether he thought Yee could beat the charges, or to comment on how Yee is feeling. A lurid 137-page FBI affidavit says Yee, 65, traded official favors for money and repeatedly met face to face with an undercover agent to smuggle automatic weapons into the country; he’s accused of accepting a $5,000 campaign contribution as part of those talks.

Yee is expected to return to court April 8 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero for further consideration of his bond and, DeMeester said, “We expect the prosecution will have obtained a grand jury indictment by then.”

A complaint — like that filed against Yee and others last week — is a list of charges filed by prosecutors; a judge must hold a preliminary hearing to determine whether the evidence sustains those charges before a trial. An indictment is a list of charges a grand jury might hand up after prosecutors present evidence and no further preliminary hearing would be required before a trial.

Asked whether Yee will resign his state Senate seat, from which his fellow senators suspended him with pay Friday, DeMeester replied, “The politics is behind us now. We’re concentrating on the case.”

The San Francisco Democrat was arrested Wednesday amid a sweep that capped a five-year FBI investigation of Chinatown mobsters; he was one of 26 people nabbed for crimes ranging from drug sales to murder-for-hire.

Yee first appeared in court last Wednesday, charged with conspiracy to traffic in firearms without a license and to illegally import firearms, and six counts of scheming to defraud citizens of “honest services.” Each corruption count is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, while the gun-trafficking count is punishable by up to five years and $250,000.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins let Yee go free last week on the half-million-dollar bond, but scheduled Monday’s hearing for Yee to produce collateral to secure that bond. DeMeester and prosecutors said they’re still examining Yee’s assets, and they plan to file an agreement with the court before next Tuesday’s hearing.

Yee entered the court looking solemn, glancing around at the crowd and nodding to someone in the press section. Once seated, Yee smiled and laughed with his attorneys and at one point turned to speak to an elderly man seated behind him.

The senator on Thursday withdrew from the campaign for California secretary of state, and on Friday his fellow senators voted 28-1 to suspend him and two other Democrats who have run afoul of the law in recent months.

Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, the alleged Chinatown crime kingpin also arrested in last week’s sweep, also appeared Monday morning in court. His temporary attorney said no permanent lawyer has been appointed, so Cousins ordered Chow to return to court again Wednesday morning before Spero. Chow wore the yellow inmate attire of the Alameda County Jail — which has a contract to house federal prisoners — and said nothing during the hearing.

©afp.com / Michael Loccisano