Lawsuit By 'Shrimp Boy' Chow Attorney Accuses SF Mayor Lee Of Accepting Illegal Campaign Contributions
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has been hit with a civil lawsuit accusing him of accepting illegal campaign donations from an undercover FBI agent involved in the corruption probe of State Sen. Leland Yee, Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow, and 26 other defendants.
The suit was filed Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court by Cory Briggs, one of Chow's attorneys, who had made a public records request for information about a $500 donation to Lee's 2011 re-election campaign.
The suit links the campaign donation to a man named Michael Anthony King, identified in the suit as the same undercover FBI agent that allegedly bribed Sen. Yee.
According to the lawsuit, the $500 donation was part of $20,000 in illegal campaign donations from the agent to the mayor's campaign – and that Lee 'conspired to accept bribes' from the undercover agent.
In San Francisco, contributions of more than $500 to the same candidate are against the law.
In a statement, the mayor's campaign treasurer Kevin Heneghan said the claims were untrue, calling the suit 'baseless and frivolous' in a statement.
"We have reached out to the U.S. Attorney's Office on numerous occasions in an attempt to obtain any information about the assertion that the Federal Bureau of Investigations or others conspired to launder money to the mayor's 2011 campaign. We take these assertions seriously, and if and when the mayor's campaign receives any specific information, we will take appropriate actions," said Heneghan.
