Mohammed Nuru (born November 15, 1962, England) is an American former civil servant and convicted criminal. He was formerly the Director of the San Francisco Department of Public Works from 2011 until 2020 where he was involved in a corruption scandal. He was convicted of honest services fraud and sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Mohammed Nuru | |
---|---|
Born | England, United Kingdom | November 15, 1962
Alma mater | Kansas State University |
Employer(s) | City and County of San Francisco |
Criminal charges | Honest services fraud |
Criminal penalty | 84 months in federal prison |
Criminal status | Incarcerated |
Nuru was born in the United Kingdom and raised on a farm in Nigeria. In 1983, he immigrated to the United States to study landscape architecture at Kansas State University. [1]
Nuru and San Francisco mayor London Breed dated. [2] [3] Following the corruption scandal, Breed acknowledged having accepted gifts from Nuru during her tenure as Mayor and was fined $8,292 for the ethics violation. The gift involved Nuru paying for repairs to Breed's car. [4] [5]
In 2011 Nuru became the director of the San Francisco Department of Public Works. [6] During his time as director he worked to improve street sanitation [7] and oversaw drastic changes to the Market Street corridor. [8] Addressing homelessness was a major concern during his time as Director; however Nuru diverted homelessness alleviation funds to his friends. [9]
Nuru was instrumental in adopting the use of liquid repellent paint on city infrastructure to discourage public urination. [10]
He was the chairman of the board of directors at the Transbay Joint Powers Authority. [11]
Nuru was arrested by the FBI in January 2020 under charges of "corruption, bribery kickbacks and side deals". [12] [13]
Having previously been "placed on leave and removed from all decision-making since the arrest", Nuru resigned on February 10, 2020, as announced by Mayor Breed." [14]
In June 2021 Nuru was arrested for brandishing a knife at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank in Dogpatch in a case unconnected to the alleged bribery. [15] Nuru underwent a court ordered psychiatric evaluation and no charges resulted from the arrest. [16]
In January 2022 Nuru pled guilty to one count of fraud in exchange for a plea bargain. [17] Nuru was subsequently sentenced to 84 months (7 years) in federal prison. [18] [19] After he was sentenced, Nuru was stripped of his city pension of $7,600 per month. [20] As of 1 March 2023 [update] Nuru is incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Lompoc, California. [21]
Over a dozen San Francisco employees and city contractors have been either charged or found guilty of bribery, money laundering, and fraud as part of the Nuru corruption scandal. [22] [23] [24]
The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the legislative branch. The mayor serves a four-year term and is limited to two successive terms. Because of San Francisco's status as a consolidated city-county, the mayor also serves as the head of government of the county; both entities have been governed together by a combined set of governing bodies since 1856.
Raymond Kwok-Cheung Chow, nicknamed "Shrimp Boy", is a Hong Kong-born felon with ties to a San Francisco Chinatown street gang and an organized crime syndicate, including the American branch of the Hong Kong-based triad Wo Hop To and the Hop Sing Boys.
Corruption in South Africa includes the improper use of public resources for private ends, including bribery and improper favouritism. Corruption was at its highest during the period of state capture under the presidency of Jacob Zuma and has remained widespread, negatively "affecting criminal justice, service provision, economic opportunity, social cohesion and political integrity" in South Africa.
Zhang Li, is a Chinese billionaire who is a co-founder of Guangzhou R&F Properties. He is president of Fuli Group.
San Francisco Public Works (SFPW) is a governmental agency for the City and County of San Francisco in California. They are responsible for the care and maintenance of San Francisco’s streets and infrastructure. The department designs, builds, resurfaces and cleans streets; plants and maintains trees; designs, constructs and maintains city-owned facilities; designs combined sewers owned by San Francisco Public Utilities Commission; designs drainage facilities; conducts sidewalk and roadway inspections, constructs curb ramps, provides mechanical and manual street cleaning, removes graffiti from public property; and partners with the diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco. Public Works serves San Francisco residents, merchants and visitors 24 hours a day and seven days a week with a workforce of approximately 1,200 employees, as of 2009.
Crime in California refers to crime occurring within the U.S. state of California.
Malia M. Cohen is an American politician serving as the 33rd Controller of California since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Cohen previously served as Chair of the California State Board of Equalization from the 2nd district from 2019 to 2023 and as President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from District 10 from 2011 to 2019.
Mark E. Farrell is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 44th Mayor of San Francisco from January 23 to July 11, 2018. Before his appointment as mayor, he served on the Board of Supervisors for nearly two terms, representing District 2.
The San Francisco Ethics Commission is a public agency tasked with maintaining city bylaws [clarification needed, there is no "city" bylaws, each Board or Commission or policy body has its own bylaws] in San Francisco, California. The commission specifically files and audits campaign finance disclosure statements, handles campaign consultant registration and regulation. They also handle lobbyist registration and regulation along with the filing of officer for statements of economic interest and the administration of the Whistleblower program. Lastly, they mitigate investigations of ethics complaints, enforce education and training and provide advice and statistical reporting.
William Horsley Orrick III is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He had a long career as a lawyer in private practice in San Francisco, and served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice during the Obama administration.
London Nicole Breed is an American politician who is the 45th and current mayor of San Francisco, serving since 2018. She was supervisor for District 5 and was president of the Board of Supervisors from 2015 to 2018.
Edmund Jew is an American former politician and businessman, who was convicted of extortion, bribery, and perjury in 2008.
The Fat Leonard scandal is an ongoing investigation and prosecution of corruption within the United States Navy during the 2000s and 2010s. It has involved ship support contractor Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), a Thai subsidiary of the Glenn Marine Group. The Washington Post called the scandal "perhaps the worst national-security breach of its kind to hit the Navy since the end of the Cold War." The company's chief executive, president, and chairman, Malaysian national Leonard Glenn Francis, bribed a large number of uniformed officers of the United States Seventh Fleet with at least a half million dollars in cash, plus travel expenses, luxury items, parties and prostitutes, in return for classified material. The classified information included the movements of U.S. ships and submarines, confidential contracting information, and details about active law enforcement investigations into Glenn Defense Marine Asia.
The election for mayor of the City and County of San Francisco was held on November 5, 2019. Incumbent Mayor London Breed, who had previously been elected in a special election to fill the unexpired term of the late Mayor Ed Lee, was reelected to a first full term in office. All local elections in California are nonpartisan.
A special election was held for Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco on June 5, 2018, to fill the remainder of the term of Ed Lee, who had died in office on December 12, 2017. Upon Lee's death, London Breed, President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, became Acting Mayor of San Francisco, but a vote of six supervisors replaced Breed with Supervisor Mark Farrell. The mayoral election was held concurrently with the statewide direct primary election. In San Francisco, the election for the eighth district member of the board of supervisors was also on the ballot.
Catherine Michele Stefani is an American attorney and politician from San Francisco. Stefani has served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors since 2018, representing District 2, which includes the neighborhoods of Pacific Heights, Cow Hollow, the Marina District and Laurel Heights.
Matthew Craig Haney is an American politician from San Francisco currently serving as a member of the California State Assembly from the 17th district, covering the eastern portion of the city. A progressive member of the Democratic Party, Haney had represented District 6 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 2019 to 2022 and previously served as a commissioner on the San Francisco Board of Education from 2013 to 2019.
Dean E. Preston is an American attorney and member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. In November 2019, Preston won a special election to finish Mayor London Breed's term on the Board of Supervisors. He was re-elected in the November 2020 election.
The San Francisco Public Works corruption scandal is an ongoing investigation by federal, state and local prosecutors and investigators into bribery and fraud involving employees and contractors working for San Francisco Public Works (SFPW), and particularly, the Department of Building Inspection (DBI). The investigation was first brought to the public's attention by the arrest in January 2020 of Mohammed Nuru, who was the Director of Public Works, by federal agents. The scandal involved multiple instances of corruption, including conflict of interest, bribery, and fraud within the DBI. Several former city officials and individuals in the construction industry were indicted and faced charges related to corrupt practices. The scandal was uncovered through audits, legal proceedings, and investigations by city authorities and federal prosecutors, ultimately leading to the exposure of widespread corruption within the department. As of December 2023, 23 employees, contractors, consultants and permit expediters have been implicated in the investigation. The scandal has led to a thorough review of work on more than 5,400 buildings to determine if corruption was involved.