State Sen. Yee sought to extort sports figures, new indictment alleges

Federal prosecutors announced additional charges Friday in a sweeping corruption investigation involving Democratic state Sen. Leland Yee, a campaign consultant and Chinatown figure Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow.

Yee, a San Francisco lawmaker, was arrested in March and charged with 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.

On Friday, a superseding grand jury indictment was issued, adding violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO Act, which allows enhanced criminal penalties and civil action when crimes are performed as part of a criminal organization.

Yee, who had previously faced eight felony charges, was additionally charged in a new grand jury indictment with three new counts: one count of “conspiracy to conduct the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity,” and two counts of conspiracy “to obtain property under the color of official right.”

Yee has pleaded not guilty to the original counts and remains in office. He will have to enter a plea on the new charges.

The new indictment describes additional accusations of actions by Yee in exchange for campaign contributions, including an offer to help an unidentified National Football League owner with a vote on legislation making it harder for professional athletes to collect workers compensation in California.

The 148-page indictment also extends charges to some of the other 28 defendants, including Chow and Yee’s campaign consultant Keith Jackson, who both face new racketeering charges. Jackson is a former president of the San Francisco Board of Education.

The alleged racketeering enterprise involving Yee and Jackson, according to the indictment, included: “Extorting individuals and professional sports teams related to the passage of legislation governing the ability of professional athletes to collect workers compensation for injuries in California.”

Yee allegedly told the undercover FBI agent in 2013 that he should contact an NFL team owner the agent claimed to know and the owner “should contact Yee with an offer to help Yee,” the indictment says.

The undercover agent allegedly asked Yee how much his vote would cost and Yee allegedly said, “Oh no ... we gotta drag it out, man. We gotta juice this thing,” the indictment says.

The indictment refers to a purported owner but does not provide any evidence that an actual NFL owner was involved.

The undercover agent offered Yee $60,000 for his vote, the indictment says, but Yee, after voting for the bill, did not receive a campaign contribution.

The indictment also accuses Yee and Jackson of “extorting individuals related to the California State Athletic Commission and the Mixed Martial Arts industry regarding retaining the existence of CSAC and its ability to regulate certain sports in California.”

The racketeering offenses that are alleged also include conspiracy to traffic in “missile systems designed to destroy aircraft.”

“As members of the campaign, defendants Yee and Jackson engaged in criminal activity including wire fraud, criminal services fraud, bribery, extortion, trafficking in firearms and money laundering,” the indictment says.

Members of Yee’s political campaign, according to the indictment, “protected unlawful campaign contributions and payment of money by routing those contributions through third party ‘straw’ or ‘conduit’ contributors by reimbursing those contributors and by requesting secrecy from perceived co-conspirators, intended to promote the enterprise.”

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