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Additional allegations filed against former state Sen. Leland Yee

Leland Yee leaves federal court in San Francisco in July after he pleaded not guilty to corruption charges.
(Noah Berger / AP)
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Former state Sen. Leland Yee’s legal troubles have worsened with a second superseding indictment issued by a federal grand jury alleging additional wrongdoing by the Democrat from San Francisco.

Yee was indicted in March on charges of accepting $62,000 in campaign contributions in return for favors, and offering to arrange the sale of machine guns and shoulder-fired missiles to an undercover FBI agent posing as a mob figure. Yee has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The new indictment alleges that on July 16, 2013, Yee and Keith Jackson, his former campaign consultant, attempted to deposit three checks totaling $12,600 into Yee’s secretary of state campaign account at Wells Fargo, knowing the checks “represented the proceeds” of unlawful activity.

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The purported donors are not named in the indictment. It alleges the checks were created after an undercover FBI agent gave Yee and Jackson $11,000 in cash for arranging a meeting with another California lawmaker, that Jackson gave $5,800 to an individual in trade for a campaign contribution in the same amount, and that Jackson asked that person to obtain additional checks to funnel money into the campaign in exchange for cash.

The new indictment also alleges Yee and Jackson deposited two other checks, for $3,000, into Yee’s secretary of state campaign in March that had a similar origin: The money allegedly was tied to $6,800 an undercover agent gave Yee along with a list of military-grade weapons he sought to purchase through a Philippine contact of the senator’s.

That contact turned out to be an elderly dentist named Wilson Sy Lim, who was originally charged in the case but has since died.

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The allegations are contained in a grand jury indictment that includes a new charge against Yee of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Yee’s attorney , James Lassart, did not immediately respond to a call for comment to his office.

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