Prosecutor on leave after campaign laundering allegations
OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU and wires) -- A veteran Alameda County prosecutor has been placed on paid administrative leave following an alleged San Francisco gang leader's accusation that she laundered campaign donations, a spokesman said Thursday.
Spokesman Sam Singer said Assistant District Attorney Sharmin Bock "expected" to be placed on leave after San Francisco Chinatown leader Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow made the claim in a court filing on Tuesday "but she knows and is confident that she will be cleared of these false and inflammatory accusations."
Bock, who's worked for the Alameda County District Attorney's Office since 1989, unsuccessfully ran for San Francisco District Attorney in 2011.
A spokeswoman for the Alameda County District Attorney's office declined to comment on Bock's status.
Chow, 55, is facing racketeering and organized crime charges in federal court in San Francisco but on Tuesday he filed a motion to dismiss those charges on the grounds that he was the target of what his lawyers allege is a "politically tainted prosecution."
Chow was one of 29 people charged in an indictment last year and he and seven other defendants are scheduled to go to trial in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer on Nov. 2.
Former state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, and political consultant Keith Jackson both pleaded guilty on July 1 to one count of participating in a racketeering conspiracy to receive campaign contributions in exchange for political favors by Yee.
The contributions were to help pay off Yee's debt for his unsuccessful run against Ed Lee for mayor of San Francisco in 2011 and his campaign for secretary of state, which he dropped out of after being arrested last year.
Chow's motion claims the FBI and prosecutors targeted him because of his past criminal activity and ties while failing to go after other public figures, including Lee and Bock.
Documents filed by Chow's attorney, Curtis Briggs, cite three recorded conversations in wiretapped phone calls between Yee and Bock that were disclosed during the discovery process in Chow's case.
According to Chow's motion, when Bock called Yee on Nov. 30, 2012, Yee said, "I've got $6,000 here" and Bock replied, "Oh, awesome. 'Kay, well, I'll get six couples to pony up."
Yee said, "So whenever you're ready, uh, let me know and then I can, uh, you know, give it to you, or whatever."
Boch, according to the motions, said, "It's not like, strip club money or anything like that, right? I'm good."
According to the documents, when Yee called Bock on Dec. 7, 2012, and said he had $8,000 for her, Bock said, "Okay, good, so I'll hustle. My goal is to get this done before the holidays."
On April 28, 2013, according to the documents, Yee told Jackson, who was his campaign finance organizer, that Bock could raise a lot of money because "she's got CEOs of Silicon Valley and (stuff) like that."
An FBI investigator wrote in a report, "I believe this conversation related to Yee swapping donation checks with Bock as part of his larger scheme to circumvent state and local campaign finance laws."
Bock helped create the Human Exploitation and Traffic Unit in Alameda County and in 2009 she received the Fay Stender Award from the California Women Lawyers, which is given to a woman attorney who has demonstrated her commitment to under-represented or disadvantaged people.
In 2010, former state Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Alameda, named Bock his district's woman of the year for helping him pass legislation that increased the penalties for human traffickers and created a funding stream for programs helping child victims.
In May 2010, Bock addressed a U.S. Senate panel on human trafficking and also talked about that subject with President Obama's
domestic policy council at a meeting at the White House.
Singer said Bock's campaign for San Francisco District Attorney in 2011 "was conducted to the highest ethical standards and was transparent and above board in compliance" with campaign laws.
Singer alleged that Chow's allegations against Bock are designed to distract people from the charges that he faces.