A California state senator, the third to face charges this year, was accused with 25 other people in a conspiracy that federal prosecutors said included firearms trafficking, money laundering, murder-for-hire and drug distribution.
California State Senator Leland Yee, 65, the first Chinese-American elected to the California Senate, was accused in a complaint unsealed on Wednesday of six counts of conspiracy to traffic in firearms without a license and one count of defrauding citizens of honest services, federal prosecutors in San Francisco said in a statement.
Yee, who represents San Mateo County and part of San Francisco, is the third senate Democrat to face federal charges this year. A Los Angeles County lawmaker was convicted in January of falsifying his residency in his legislative district, while another pleaded not guilty to charges that he took bribes in a corruption sting.
Since 2011, Yee allegedly raised thousands of dollars with a co-defendant to pay off debts from a failed campaign for San Francisco mayor and to support his current run for California secretary of state by soliciting donations from undercover FBI agents in exchange for favors, including supporting a state Public Health Department contract for an agent’s purported client, the statement said.
The co-defendant, Keith Jackson, told an undercover agent in August last year that Yee had a contact in arms trafficking and sought a campaign donation for Yee to set up a meeting with the arms dealer, prosecutors said.
Jackson was charged with conspiracy to traffic in firearms, narcotics distribution and use of an interstate commerce facility for the commission of a murder-for-hire, prosecutors said.
Defendant Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, identified as the leader of the San Francisco-based Chee Kung Tong organization, allegedly introduced Jackson to an undercover agent.
Prosecutors said Jackson is a “consultant” to Chee Kung Tong and sold firearms to the agent and conspired to commit a murder-for-hire requested by the agent.
Chow was charged with money laundering and other counts.
California Senate President pro tempore Darrell Steinberg said Yee must resign or the Senate would immediately hold a vote to suspend him.
“Leland Yee, yes, innocent until proven guilty, must leave the Senate and leave it now,” Steinberg said at a statehouse press conference.
Yee, a former child psychologist, served on the San Francisco board of supervisors, the city’s legislative body, until he won a state Assembly seat in 2002. He rose to the rank of speaker pro tem, the second-highest position in the chamber. Four years later, he won a seat in the Senate.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was