San Francisco Corruption Case: More Charged

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Three more people, including the director of the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services, have been charged in a corruption probe centered on the city's former public works director, Mohammed Nuru, federal prosecutors announced on Monday.

Office of Neighborhood Services Director Sandra Zuniga, 44, of South San Francisco, was charged in a June 3 criminal complaint that was unsealed Monday with one count of conspiracy to launder money allegedly illegally gained by Nuru.

Zuniga, described in the complaint as Nuru's romantic partner since 2009, allegedly used the funds to pay expenses for Nuru including mortgage payments and construction costs on a vacation home they own in Colusa County.

Charges were also unsealed Monday against engineering firm executive Balmore Hernandez, 55, of Burlingame, who was accused of one count of bribing Nuru in 2018 with $52,000 worth of building materials for the vacation home in exchange for aid on city contracts and approvals.

Construction company owner Florence Kong, 62, of Hillsborough, was accused in a third complaint unsealed Monday with lying to the FBI on March 4 when she allegedly denied receiving aid from Nuru on city contracts and allegedly denied giving him money.

Nuru was charged in January with one count of honest services wire fraud, allegedly carried out in an unsuccessful scheme to bribe a San Francisco International Airport commissioner to aid restaurateur Nick Bovis in obtaining a restaurant concession in 2018. Nuru, who resigned his post in February, also faces a second count of lying to the FBI on Jan. 27 after having initially cooperated with the corruption investigation.

He is free on a $2 million bond and due to appear before U.S. Magistrate Laurel Beeler on June 24 for a status conference.

Bovis pleaded guilty last month to one count of honest services wire fraud and one count of using a wire communication to carry out the fraud and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. The details of the crimes to which he pleaded guilty are under seal.

Zuniga is due to make an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Laurel Beeler in San Francisco on Wednesday. Hernandez and Kong appeared before Beeler on Monday. Hernandez was released on a $4 million bond and Kong was released on an unsecured bond. They are due to reappear before Beeler on June 15 for further proceedings.

Hernandez formerly worked as a civil engineer with the Department of Public Works before becoming chief executive officer of Azul Works Inc., which received contracts from the department worth millions of dollars, according to the complaint.

An affidavit filed with the complaint by FBI agent James Folger alleges that the $52,000 bribe charged in the complaint was "part of a much larger pattern and course of conduct" in which Hernandez allegedly gave Nuru an additional $200,000 worth of labor and materials on the Colusa County property between 2016 and 2018 in exchange for having city business steered his way or being helped with obtaining city approvals.

U.S. Attorney Dave Anderson said in statement, "Today's criminal complaints will not be the last.

"To everyone with a piece of this corruption, again I urge you to help make things right for San Francisco" by coming to the FBI and cooperating with the probe, Anderson said.

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