Holy Sh*t! The FBI Has Arrested The Director SF DPW On Corruption Charges
A high-ranking City Hall official who goes by @MrCleanSF on Twitter is accused of some dirty deeds in a set of FBI arrests that just rocked San Francisco City Hall. The SF Examiner reports that Department of Public Works director Mohammed Nuru was arrested by the FBI on suspicion of public corruption Monday afternoon and booked into County Jail. Mission Local dug through jail records and found that Nuru was booked on โfelony safekeepโ charges, which according to that site, is โindicating a pending federal case,โ so weโre talking some Shrimp Boy/Leland Yee level shit here.
UPDATE: The U.S. Attorneyโs Office of the Northern District of California has released the 79-page criminal complaint against Nuru, and hereโs the short version. He accused of 1) trying to bribe a San Francisco Airport Commissioner with an envelope of $5,000 in cash, 2) rigging a development project in favor of a Chinese billionaire who gave him high-end liquor and other gifts, 3) accepting gifts to manipulate the lease process for a food vendor at the Transbay Transit Center, 4) getting free or discounted equipment and labor for his Colusa County vacation home from developers doing business with the city, and 5) rigging contracts for portable public restrooms. Turns out Nuru had actually been arrested last week, was told to keep quiet but apparently shared information about the investigation, and lied to the FBI about it.
The Chronicle reports the FBI also arrested Lefty OโDoulโs owner Nick Bovis as part of the same investigation. Both have since been released from County Jail. We love Lefty OโDoulโs, but again, we must reiterateโฆ Holy shit!
Mohammed Nuru, seen above, was appointed by Ed Lee as director of DPW in 2012, when Lee himself held the same job but then was appointed mayor. Nuru has past allegations of mishandling taxpayer funds and forcing street cleaners to vote for Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris. Lately, his department has faced criticism for their heartless handling of homeless sweeps.
The U.S. attorneyโs office has a press conference scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today. Ominously, Mission Localโs Joe Eskenazi tweets that โOther known SF politicos may also come up during that press conference.โ