Ed Jew FBI raid unsealed

SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Computers, $10,000 in cash, and financial statements were among items seized at properties owned by suspended San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew, according to documents unsealed this week by a federal judge.

Three bags of hollow-point bullets and $20,000 in cash were also found at the home of Robert Chan, an alleged co-conspirator of Jew, according to FBI documents, who is now battling federal extortion charges.

The latest details surrounding the much-followed legal wrangling of the rookie supervisor come from a federal application and affidavit for a search warrant, in addition to the subsequent May 18 search warrant, which U.S. District Judge Susan Illston unsealed at the request of federal prosecutors.

Jew has been accused of extorting up to $80,000 in cash bribes from owners of Quickly tapioca drink shop franchises and of accepting in cash $40,000 as partial payment.

During the FBI’s May 18 raid of five properties, agents seized $10,000 in cash from Jew’s Burlingame home and a “stack of one hundred dollar bills totaling $20,000 U.S. dollars” from consultant Chan’s Newhall Street residence and home business, the unsealed documents show.

Also seized from Chan’s home were three bags of “various manufacturers hollow point ammunition,” a federal agent noted in the documents.

According to Jew, he referred local tapioca drink shop owners to Chan as someone who could handle their business permitting problems. Jew said he accepted $40,000 cash on behalf of Chan, then asked for half to spend on community needs.

In the federal complaint against Jew, a person is identified only as “co-conspirator No. 1.” In the earlier documents, which were filed before the Sept. 20 complaint, the moniker “co-conspirator” is not used, but Robert Chan’s name is.

Chan’s attorney James Bustamante said that “the hollow-points are of no consequence and it’s not part of the investigation.”

Bustamante said that the FBI raid “revealed nothing that placed my client doing anything illegal; quite the contrary” and said that “my client was not the target of the investigation.”

Jew’s attorney Stuart Hanlon referred questions about the bullets to Chan, but said “Jew has been charged of a lot of things but not charged of anything violent.”

“There are no guns, there’s no violence here,” he said.

Hanlon said that Chan, who has not been charged with a crime, is “co-operating” with federal

authorities.

Hanlon just took over the federal case last week after Jew’s initial defense attorney bowed out. He said he is reviewing “tapes and videos” from when the FBI had Jew under surveillance.

Federal agents apparently requested a search warrant only after Jew found out he was being tailed. Jew had contacted the San Francisco Police Department and asked them to run the license plates of cars following him. The local police alerted the FBI to Jew’s request on May 17.

Jew is also facing three other legal battles. The district attorney has charged Jew with nine felonies, accusing him of lying about where he lived to run for office, the city attorney has filed a civil lawsuit against Jew to oust him from office for allegedly violating city residency requirements and The City is also holding misconduct proceedings that could result in his permanent removal from office.

Hanlon said that “either the cases go to trial or there is a global resolution on all of them.”

That could be Jew resigning and then resolving the criminal cases “in a way everyone is satisfied,” he said.

Jew’s next scheduled court appearance is Jan. 18 in federal court.

jsabatini@examiner.com

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