According to federal prosecutors in San Francisco, California state senator Leland Yee has been charged with six counts of conspiracy to traffic in firearms without a license and one count of defrauding citizens of honest services. The charges were revealed when a complaint was unsealed yesterday following his arrest in a series of raids conducted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. The news agency said Lee is involved with 25 other people in a conspiracy that includes murder-for-hire, drugs, money laundering and firearms, federal prosecutors have said.
The 65 year-old Chinese-American is noted to be the third senate Democrat this year who is facing federal charges. Bloomberg said that a Los Angeles County lawmaker in January was convicted over the falsification of his residency. Another has already denied and submitted his not guilty plea to claims that he took bribes in a corruption sting.
The federal prosecutors have added in the statement that Yee, along with a co-defendant, raised thousands of dollars to help pay off the debts that incurred in a failed San Francisco mayoral bid and support his own campaign for California secretary of state. Moreover, Yee allegedly solicited donations from FBI agents, who were undercover at that time, in exchange for favors, which include support for a contract with the state Public Health Department for a disguised agent's client.
Lee's involvement in the crimes was corroborated by his defendant Keith Jackson, who knowingly told an undercover agent in August that the state senator had a contact in firearms trafficking and asked a donation in exchange for a meeting with the arms dealer by Yee.
Lee's involvement in the scandal has clearly marred his rising political career. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has been quoted as saying that Yee should resign or wait for the Senate to vote him off for suspension. He told a statehouse press conference, "Leland Yee, yes, innocent until proven guilty, must leave the Senate and leave it now."
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