Last updated: February 2024
In January, 2020, the first domino fell.
Mohammad Nuru, then the director of the San Francisco Department of Public Works, was hit with a raft of federal corruption charges and was accused of lying to the FBI – crimes that could see him in prison for up to 25 years.
At the time, U.S. Attorney David Anderson commented on the allegations by saying, “corruption is pouring into San Francisco from around the world.”
The following two years seem to have proven him right. Multiple heads of city government departments have since been ousted from their jobs over allegations of corruption. City employees and contractors have pleaded guilty to charges of bribery, money laundering, and fraud; others are professing their innocence as charges continue to pile up.
The federal and local investigations have touched building inspectors, real estate brokers, and even a Chinese billionaire. From Public Works to the Mayor’s Office to the Public Utilities Commission, new charges are springing up, hydra-like, month after month.
With so many interconnected allegations flying around the city, it can be difficult to keep track of exactly who is involved with what. We have created an interactive graphic to show the connections between the people and organizations that have loomed large in investigations, based on the reporting of Joe Eskenazi. As more players are swept into the maw — and as connections between players become established — we will update this item.
Click on the circles below to find out more. Click the lines between circles to understand how the two are connected.
Some have been charged, others have been found guilty. Others have had no charges brought. See how they are connected.
You can find a fullscreen version of the chart here.
Please note that inclusion on this chart does not necessarily imply wrongdoing, only connection with city investigations. The chart is also not exhaustive – there will be links that are not captured here. We will update the chart as investigations develop.
Test your knowledge
How well do you know the corruption scandal that has rocked San Francisco for the past two years? Click on the question boxes to see the answers.
Sadly, for us San Franciscans, this is likely only the tip of the iceberg. The investigation itself was a stroke of blind luck, as there is minimal accountability or oversight within City leadership. Many, if not all, Department Heads and Deputy Directors owe their generous salaries and benefits to those above them, leading to a culture of covering up each other’s corruption. They freely exploit their positions, sometimes utilizing City Taxpayer funds for personal gain, without concern for repercussions. The exact number of Department Directors appointed by Mayor London Breed and Director Naomi Kelly remains unknown, as does the extent of their involvement in pay-to-play schemes or other similar misconduct that leverages their positions of power for personal gain. Regrettably, without proper scrutiny, these actions may go unnoticed.
San Francisco is home to numerous influential city departments, similar to the Department of Building Inspection (DBI), which provides essential services to residents. Another significant department is the Department of Technology (DT), whose director was hired by Naomi Kelly. With a budget of approximately $1.3 billion, the DT is allegedly led by a racist, narcissistic megalomaniac who has surrounded herself with Deputy Directors and Senior Staff who do not question her mismanagement of City Resources and budget. There is widespread belief among Department of Technology employees that the Director has sweetheart deals with major networking and software technology vendors, as well as a third-party networking service consultant who regularly upsells unnecessary goods and services, costing residents millions of taxpayer dollars. When engineers or staff , particularly women and people of color, voice concerns or disagree with the Department Director, she retaliates with the support of HR, targeting them without consequence.
To exacerbate matters for us residents, the City’s central HR department, along with departmental HR departments, actively assist and collaborate with Department Directors and their senior staff in terminating employees who attempt to speak out and report wrongdoing. The City HR functions like the City’s own Storm Trooper division, employing underhanded tactics to silence anyone who dares to voice concerns. In a city that once prided itself on its diversity and as a global melting pot, City Leadership fails to uphold those values, and HR demonstrates a particularly harsh stance towards people of color.
Next up
County home health care contractor and Institute of Aging Contractors misbilling the city and the county for hours not worked
wage theft from home health care givers
They in turn steal from us the client
(I have a police report)
My adult protective worker refuses to assist me with a trip down to Superior court
I do have a Medi Cal hearing next month……………….
20 years of getting building permits from DBI / DPW. I saw so so much corruption. Have lost all faith in SF city government.
Willie Brown may not be the first politician to enrich themself from public office, but it was his administration that launched the ‘web of corruption’ Mission Local has presented here. I would like to see his reputation diminished lest it serve as an example for future leaders.
Don’t forget about the City Human Resources Department official that buried a
discrimination lawsuit and reported to the claimant/city employee that it was settled with no $ amount
San Francisco Department of Human Resources is CORRUPT and NO accountability. They don’t even respond to you.
If you want to be further appalled, look at what we’re paying these government employees. That joker Nuru, aka inmate 26098-111 at the U.S. penitentiary at Lompoc, was being paid $345,000/year. That’s approximately $170/hour or $1360/day if you work a 40 hour work week (was he, though?). Harlan Kelly, the former General Manager of the SF PUC was paid $472,000/year, and his wife, City Administrator Naomi Kelly, was being paid $398,000/year. $72,500/month between the two of them. Check out the language in his indictment and marvel at the alleged grift.
In other outrageous news not covered in this chart, Dr. Lisa Pratt, director of Jail Health Services responsible for overseeing medical care for San Francisco inmates, is being paid $536,000/year for her full time job and was simultaneously being paid $123,000/year as a consultant to Baker Places (a non profit that ostensibly provides mental health / addiction services), which would have had her working her 8-to-6 day job with the city and then from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturdays and 8 p.m. to 6:30 am on Sundays at Baker Places, providing guidance on medical issues for Joe Healy Detox center. Seriously?
Public employees’ compensation is public record. Look it up at transparentcalifornia.com and be prepared to scream into a pillow.
This is important and thanks for the coverage. But what about crime in the mission and folks who constantly break the law and create a dangerous situation in the hood. For example: https://youtu.be/dykaJjegDEY
You need to delve into crime in the Mission and connections with organized crime. You also need to focus on organizations in the Mission that seem to make things worse.
why is this still on the front page? do you not have any new content? i guess not.
The fish stinks from the head down, as they say, and San Francisco local government is no different. I have said for many years, that there needs to be an audit of all City departments and agencies, and it needs to be an outside audit that exposes the unvarnished rot for all to see. The reason they’ll never allow this, is because it would peel back far more nepotism/greed than City Hall lets on, and expose more employees and elected officials than we can imagine.
It’s clear this is only scratching the surface of the web of corruption and theft in the SF government. People need to wake up to the fact that London Breed is participating in corruption at the very heart of this. London Breed was groomed by Willie Brown and she will continue to appoint more corrupt officials as long as she’s in power.
Joe you need to write a book!
Joe,
Just getting around to studying this piece and as usual, fantastic work.
But, what happened to your sense of humor?
You used to put all of these little esoteric sports allusions into your work and now you’re all business.
I love your moving circles graph and it would be funny if you made all of them cross over at some point, the person who ultimately got them by the shorts …
You!!
Again, reading your work reminds me of what I said when Linda LaFlamme walked into my jazz club in St. Louis 40 years back and said God sent her there to play for free.
She played
I listened and said same thing to her then (I know it’s not original in the least) …
said thing to her then as we all say when we dig to your little web site …
“What are you doing here?”
h.
What happened to Cyril Yu??? The has been/will never, self anointed eventual heir to Tom Hui’s last posting as DBI Chief? He did a lot of Hui’s dirty work and I bet he ends up in your chart when the FBI concludes.
Two names not on here?
One:
Supervisor Ahsha Safaí. If you are looking into SIA and their connection to illegal units, and dodgy purchase of lots in the Excelsior, look no further. This is a mini-mafia, and guys like Curran with their piddly 200 dollar gifts to a soccer club and 180K loan are comparative little fish they hope will satisfy investigations and prosecutors.
Two:
The REAL connection here is with Siavash Tahbazof, who is THE SIA of SIA. His son-in-law Freydoon is just a proxy. Look at the dodginess around 915 Cayuga. The cover for their money-grab was a lot of sanctimonious language about “giving back to the community”.
Tahbazof/Safai goes back for quite some time in this – here’s his 2015 endorsement:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/SIA-Consulting-Corp-103291333070268/reviews/
If you dig around Safai’s original purchase of an Athens St lot under a blind agency, you will find a trail that involves SIA.
Three:
Paul Pelosi Jr.
He’s up to his neck with the property at 1312 Utah St. Joe Eskenazi covers the connections and dealing here, but this chart has yet to be updated with Speaker Pelosi’s son.: https://missionlocal.org/2021/11/paul-pelosi-client-9-department-of-building-inspection-1312-utah-the-pit/
Joe also noted the Paul Pelosi connection to the property last May:
https://missionlocal.org/2019/05/squalor-continues-at-the-pit-the-mission-district-residential-hotel-where-paul-pelosi-jr-s-involvement-baffled-san-francisco-officials/
The real boss of all this is Calnonprofit. Read their business plan it is frightening and reminds me of 1935 Germany.
I guess it’s my turn to let people know what the real facts are happening right now what this is is a industry that makes money off the homel
ess problem they realize this a long time ago and all they had to do was get all the top people working together to make it happen and they can make millions upon millions maybe even billions upon the homeless industry if they turned it into a business
Mayor Breed keeps lying down with the dogs, yet has miraculously avoided the fleas. 🤔
No she hasn’t she is working under immunity.
@DonaldRStaley What evidence do you have Mayor Breed is “working under immunity”?
SF City government is full of failure, including the school district, which is $125 million in the hole, even with increasing property taxes and declining enrollment. And the leaning Millennium Tower, which the City had to grant a permit for. And the forever construction on Van Ness. And spending $245,000 per homeless person per year, to achieve nothing. And a District Attorney whose lawyers have quit en masse. It’s probably time to throw the rascals out.
Yes and it barely goes to the homeless it is there to help it goes to pay for all the nonprofit salaries at ECS of San Francisco the true Corruptors and the”
Most Evil “company on the planet.
Angus McCarty, should step down from building commission, He is Dirty, take a look at his project on market st and Traylor st Noe street, and many more,
Folks, this is just scratching the surface. San Francisco’s budget is $13 billion dollars a year. Highest of any like size city in the world. Paris has 3x the population and their budget is about $9 billion. Wait until London Breed gets busy spending that billion dollar homeless slush fund.
What’s crazier is that Paris’ homeless population is ~2,800-~3,500 compared to San Francisco’s ~8,000. Our City population is 3 times smaller, but the homelessness is 3 times worse. https://www.la-croix.com/France/Y-vraiment-moins-sans-abri-rues-Paris-2021-04-02-1201149020
Which of our infamous Board of Education chiefs are a paid consultant to her husband’s development firm, which just finished a tower at Van Ness and Market? Urban Pacific Development, LLC pay Alison Collins through her Falcon Pacific LLC firm.
Isn’t this the reason Ed Lee had a heart attack? He was a key player in the “family” and had a birthday party hosted by Walter Wong and Wongs property on Division.
San Francisco has had a reputation as a place to pay to play and I am as a life long resident so glad to see these overpaid pompous People taken down!!! And most of them sold out so cheap it has to be embarrassing!! But why are any allowed to keep their pension or pay while they are awaiting trial??? They should be stripped of all city benefits and any ill gotten gains should be confiscated and returned to the Tax Payers Of San Francisco!! And I Mean Everything Homes Vacation Homes Bank Accounts Anything They Got From Bribes They Should Forget
I think I might use that for trivia night that I run at the pub
Someone should do a deep dive investigation into the Workforce Development Division. They have an ingrained culture of incompetence, mismanagement, and fraud, especially in regards to the Jobs Now program they ran. It was a toxic cesspool, not because of line workers but because of middle and upper management, who cared only about generating “numbers” to justify their positions. The rot started at the top. I will never go on record because I’m just happy to be out of that toilet.
I find it very interesting that Mayor Breed appoints City Attorney to Head of SFPUC and Assembly Member Chui moves to the SF City Attorneys office. Coincidence? We shall see.
Joe and Nick, thanks for the Nifty little chart! Anyone looking into the Shell Game Mayor Breed is playing between David Chui (Friendly Assembly Member) and replacing the The SFPUC Director with City Attorney Herrara? Interested moves going on there!!
This is good work. Thanks for the quality reporting.
Would be helpful with a map of tax dollars going to non-profits, and how much overhead/compensation each of these organizations take.
Question 11: Which disgraced public official disgraced himself further by trying and failing to rob a man at knife point for a bag of potatoes chips?
Joe and Will, this is brilliant. Thank you.
I scored an “A” on your quiz, but only because I read Mission Local. Would scarcely know any of this has happened/is happening from the mainstream press.
I hope you win prestigious journalism awards for your coverage almost as much as I hope justice is served on the criminally incompetent, greedy, selfish, and derelict city leaders.
This is a great and sad infographic, but I wish it came with a cast of characters in list form.
Is the Allison Collins real estate / city development network in here? Why is TODCO missing? These aren’t criticisms, I’ve only been here a few years and I’m still trying to get my ahead around all the graft I’ve read about
How is it possible the Planning Department has clean hands? It’s not.
I have been astonished at your reporting. I am also astonished how lightly the SF Chronicle has covered the issues. So thank God or whoever for the Mission Local.
Fake news only for the chronicle?
I cancelled a third-generation (DeYoung) Chronicle subscription when the (Hearst) Chronicle gave C W Nevius the front page to crow about closing the recycling center at Market & Duboce because of presumed homeless recyclers. Closing the Kezar recycling center was not enough to satisfy him after he left Cole Valley. Such a SOB.
Angus McCarthy is connected to all of the above , charming greedy sneaky, all about Angus,
Love this work. Thanks Joe and Will!
THIS IS RICH
Scorecard. Getcher scorecard here. Can’t tell the felons apart without a scorecard.
Great graphic guys. The City is a cesspool.
please investigate where all of the money for Homeless and support services and behavioral health are going. I am sure you will find scandals there as well. $5000 tents? Who has the contract? Intensive case management in name only. A director of Behavioral health that is an internist and knows nothing about schizophrenia. Ignoring anyone who is NOT HOMELESS
And the VP of our trash company killed himself how strange?
No one mentions the one committee Victor G. Makras is still serving on and has been on for some time…The Willie L. Brown,Jr. Institute on Politics and Public Service.
Kinda reads like a good joke.
As does The Willie L. Brown, Jr. Institute on Politics and Public Service…