SF Public Works Chief and Restaurateur Lawyer Up to Fight Public Corruption Case
San Francisco Director of Public Works Mohammed Nuru, who was charged with honest services fraud, is being represented by Ismail Ramsey of Ramsey & Ehrlich. Nuru's co-defendant, restaurateur Nick Bovis, is being represented by Gilbert Eisenberg and Michael Stepanian.
January 28, 2020 at 06:48 PM
2 minute read
Attorney Ismail Ramsey outside of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. (Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM)
Federal prosecutors have charged San Francisco Director of Public Works Mohammed Nuru and restaurateur Nick Bovis with honest services fraud in connection with an alleged scheme to bribe an unnamed San Francisco airport commissioner.
In a complaint unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors claim that Nuru and Bovis offered the official cash and free travel in exchange for assistance in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to run a restaurant in the San Francisco International Airport.
Nuru's lawyer, Ismail Ramsey of Ramsey & Ehrlich, called his client "a dedicated public servant" and said he "looks forward to addressing these charges in court."
Bovis is represented by Gilbert Eisenberg and Michael Stepanian. Eisenberg by phone said Tuesday that his client had "no comment at this time."
Beyond the airport allegations, prosecutors allege that Nuru used his official position to benefit an unnamed billionaire in China in exchange for travel, lodging, and other gifts; attempted to use his position as the chairman of the Joint Transbay Transit Authority to secure a desirable lease for Bovis in the Transbay Transit Center; and provided Bovis with insider information to help win contracts to provide portable bathroom trailers and small containerlike housing units to address San Francisco's homeless crisis. The complaint also claims that Nuru got free and discount work on his personal vacation home in Colusa County from contractors who also were working on projects for the city.
"The complaint describes a web of corruption involving bribery, kickbacks, and side deals by one of San Francisco's highest-ranking city employees," said San Francisco U.S. Attorney David Anderson, in a statement announcing the charges. "The public is entitled to honest work from public officials, free from manipulation for the official's own personal benefit and profit."
Assistant U.S. attorneys Scott Joiner, S. Waqar Hasib and Robert Leach all appeared on court papers filed Tuesday seeking to unseal the complaint.
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