Mexican businessman gets 3 years in San Diego corruption scandal

A wealthy Mexican businessman convicted of making illegal campaign contributions in a public corruption scandal that roiled San Diego’s political establishment was sentenced to three years in federal prison Friday.

Jose Susumo Azano Matsura was convicted on 35 charges of making $600,000 in illegal contributions in the 2012 mayor’s race during a five-week trial in September 2016. The jury didn’t reach a verdict on a charge that he illegally possessed a firearm, but he was tried again on that charge in July and was convicted.

He was accused of funneling cash and campaign services to the campaigns or committees supporting then-Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis and former Mayor Bob Filner.

Azano made his fortune building a Mexico City-based business that developed surveillance technology and cybersecurity products that were sold to the government in Mexico and elsewhere. His lawyer said in a sentencing memorandum that though wealthy, Azano was “not close to being the billionaire as alleged by the government.”

He also wrote that Azano has assisted Mexican and U.S. law enforcement over the years to secure the release of citizens of both countries who had been kidnapped in Mexico. He wrote Azano had helped authorities rescue 17 U.S. citizens and many Mexicans.

It was that work and the danger it posed for Azano that led him to move his family to a mansion in Coronado and eventually hire a retired San Diego police detective, Ernesto Encinas, to provide security.

Encinas was the conduit who introduced Azano to local politics and served as the liaison between Azano and the campaigns. He eventually cooperated with federal investigators in the investigation, recording conversations and providing information. He has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

Prosecutors said Azano clandestinely injected himself and his money into the mayor’s race in order to “buy a mayor” who would help him develop bay-front property in a “Miami West” project. Defense lawyers scoffed at that notion and said there was little hard evidence to support it.

He used straw donors, shell holding companies and businesses controlled by Marc Chase, a La Jolla car dealer who also pleaded guilty in the case, to hide his donations. “Every penny was Azano’s,” prosecutors wrote, “but not a single penny was contributed in his name.”

In all he provided $100,000 to an independent committee supporting Dumanis, $120,000 to Filner and $60,000 combined to the county Democratic Party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

He paid an additional $75,000 for the services of Ravneet Singh, a campaign services expert adept at social media and internet-based campaigning.

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com

Moran writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune