Posted on 04/08/2005 10:34:17 AM PDT by SmithL
State prosecutors charged a top volunteer fund-raiser for former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley with grand theft and other felonies on Thursday, accusing her of diverting $125,000 from a taxpayer-funded grant to Shelley's 2002 campaign fund, sources with knowledge of the case told The Chronicle.
The complaint, filed under seal in San Francisco Superior Court, claims that Julie Lee, a San Francisco businesswoman, city commissioner and political power broker in the Asian community, forged documents to obtain state funds, used the money for illegal purposes and later falsified records to cover her tracks when questions emerged about how the funds were used, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition they not be identified.
The criminal complaint, prepared by the state attorney general's office and the San Francisco district attorney, also charges Lee with the "extraction" of a total of $80,000 from two clients of her real estate business to contribute to Shelley and disguising the true source of political donations, the sources said.
The reported criminal charges are the first to come out of several overlapping federal, state and local inquiries that began when the contributions were initially called into question by The Chronicle last summer.
Lee has remained largely silent on the matter, other than initially dismissing the news stories as "Westerner gossip" about the Asian community. On Thursday, a lawyer for Lee, Steven Gruel, declined to comment on the charges because he had not yet seen the written complaint. "She intends to plead not guilty to the charges, and we intend to fight the charges," Gruel said, adding that bail already had been set for Lee at $250,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
ShmelleyGate Ping
Lee has remained largely silent on the matter, other than initially dismissing the news stories as "Westerner gossip" about the Asian community.
When's the last time a member of a minority charged with criminal wrong-doing didn't play the race card?
Another challenge for readers: from the article, try to determine what political party is involved. It's interesting that you have to get clear down there to the eleventh 'graph before a tiny little "fellow Democrats" pops up.
I think there's something in the Sacramento water. Former Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, who's a Republican, pulled some similarly idiotic moves. People up there seem to think they can run any kind of scam and remain invulnerable.
That's rich. I bet Julie is native born and bred and speaks english as her first language.
More news from the swamp what is Frisco.
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