Holy Sh*t! The FBI Has Arrested The Director SF DPW On Corruption Charges
Image: Bernard Spragg via Flickr
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 “felony safekeep” charges, which according to that site, is “indicating a pending federal case,” so we’re talking some Shrimp Boy/Leland Yee level shit here.
UPDATE: The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of California has released the 79-page criminal complaint against Nuru, and here’s 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 O’Doul’s owner Nick Bovis as part of the same investigation. Both have since been released from County Jail. We love Lefty O’Doul’s, but again, we must reiterate… Holy shit!
Image: Dolortes Park Works via Flickr
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. attorney’s office has a press conference scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today. Ominously, Mission Local’s Joe Eskenazi tweets that “Other known SF politicos may also come up during that press conference.”
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