Leland Yee Case: Couple Accused Of Money Laundering With 'Shrimp Boy' Chow Granted Bail
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- An Oakland woman described by prosecutors as a "close associate" of Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow was granted release on $250,000 bail together with her husband in federal court in San Francisco on Friday while they await trial on two criminal charges.
Leslie Yun, 42, and James Pau, 55, are among 29 defendants charged in a wide-ranging corruption and organized-crime indictment issued by a federal grand jury on April 3.
Chow, the leader of the Chinatown-based Chee Kung Tong association, and suspended state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, are also named in the indictment.
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Yun and Pau are each accused of one count of laundering $33,000 for an undercover FBI agent posing as a Mafia member and one count of conspiring with Chow and others to traffic in stolen cigarettes.
They were arrested in New York City on March 25 and have been in custody since then. They were each granted release on $250,000 bonds by U.S. Magistrate Nandor Vadas over the objections of Assistant U.S. Attorney William Frentzen, who sought to have them held without bail.
Frentzen said Yun has been described as the bookkeeper for the Chee Kung Tong and as "the person in charge of finances, described by some as very close to Raymond Chow."
Prosecutors have alleged that the Chee Kung Tong, a civic association of which Chow is the "dragonhead" or leader, had a criminal faction also led by Chow. Chow's lawyers have vehemently denied that the group had a criminal element and maintain that Chow reformed after completing a racketeering and gun trafficking sentence in 2003.
Frentzen told Vadas during Friday's hearing that while Yun is currently charged with two crimes, "her situation is a little broader than that."
The prosecutor, who has previously said he expects a revised indictment with additional charges by July, then alleged that Yun has been described as participating in several other crimes.
The other actions, Frentzen alleged, include participating in several different sales of a total of more than $400,000 worth of stolen cigarettes to associates in New York and selling marijuana to an undercover agent.
Frentzen also said Yun runs a business called Millenium Therapeutic that, according to Frentzen, has been described as "a massage parlor that provides sexual services for its customers."
None of the alleged additional crimes are charged in the April 3 indictment. The allegations that Yun participated in several different cigarette deals and sold marijuana were previously mentioned, however, in a 137-page FBI affidavit filed with a March 24 criminal complaint, but were not specifically charged in the complaint.
The affidavit by FBI agent Emmanuel Pascua also said Yun had an office at Millenium Therapeutic, but did not describe the business.
Pascua said in the document that both Yun and Pau were listed as directors of the Chee Kung Tong in a 2012 tax filing, and that Yun was described in secretly recorded conservations as the group's bookkeeper and Pau as an "organizer."
The purportedly stolen cigarettes were supplied by undercover FBI agents, according to the affidavit. The document also said that in the alleged money laundering incident on May 16, 2012, the agent posing as a Mafioso allegedly gave Yun $33,000 in cash, which he said came from marijuana growing in Mendocino County and illegal gambling.
Yun allegedly then wired $30,000 from an account she maintained into a fictitious business account held by the agent, and took an agreed-on $3,000 commission, according to the affidavit.
After Vadas turned down Frentzen's bid to have Yun held without bail, Frentzen withdrew his request to have Pau detained and agreed to a similar $250,000 bond for Pau. The couple's attorneys said they expected the pair to be released from Alameda County's Santa Rita Jail in Dublin Friday evening.
Yun's bail includes $50,000 in cash and $200,000 secured by a Daly City property to be posted by Pau's brother. Pau's bond is an additional $250,000 of the value of the same property.
Outside of court, defense attorney Dennis Riordan said he didn't know whether Yun is a member of the Chee Kung Tong.
Two other defendants who were arrested in other states are due for detention hearings before U.S. Magistrate Joseph Spero next week.
They are Brandon Jackson, 28, of San Francisco, the son of former San Francisco school board president Keith Jackson, and sports agent Marlon Sullivan, 29, of Oakland.
Both are accused of conspiring with Keith Jackson in a never-completed $25,000 murder-for-hire plot, conspiring with the older Jackson to sell cocaine, and selling guns and ballistic vests to an undercover agent.
Sullivan, who was arrested on March 26 in New Jersey, had been scheduled for a hearing before Vadas on Friday, but his attorney, Kurt Robinson, requested a postponement until Tuesday. Brandon Jackson, arrested March 26 in Connecticut, will have a detention hearing on Monday.
Keith Jackson, a political consultant, is additionally accused of conspiring with Yee to funnel campaign contributions to the senator in exchange for political services and conspiring with Yee and Daly City dentist Wilson Lim in a proposed international arms deal.
Keith Jackson is free on a $250,000 bond and Yee was granted bail of $500,000. Chow, who is being held without bail, is charged with three counts of conspiring to traffic in stolen liquor and cigarettes and seven counts of money laundering between 2011 and 2013.
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