As if Nancy Pelosi doesn’t face enough trouble as House Speaker, she now has to deal with an FBI probe into her son’s business dealings. According to a report, the FBI is investigating how Paul Pelosi Jr. allegedly bride a San Francisco official to turn away from a corrupt real estate deal that he was trying to close on.
According to reports, Pelosi’s son and at least three of his close associates have been called in for FBI interviews in relation to a five-year-long investigation that resulted in charges being filed against a building permit fixer who allegedly bribed a San Francisco city official.
According to case details, the bribe included an effort to remove permit violations on a property that was owned by Nancy Pelosi’s son’s girlfriend. The property was derelict and used as a “flophouse,” according to the Daily Mail, and the real estate professionals wanted to gain access to the property without permits.
An independent investigation conducted by DailyMail.com found that Pelosi Jr. has been involved in five previous federal probes and that this ongoing case is the sixth one he finds himself embroiled in.
Meanwhile, the permit fixer, San Francisco permit expediter Rodrigo Santos (above), was indicted for fraud in November. He previously served as the president of the San Francisco Building Inspection Commission.
According to the prosecutors working the case, Santos encouraged his clients to divert thousands of dollars into the favorite nonprofit organization of building inspector Bernie Curran.
The nonprofit was a rugby organization. If clients gave enough money to the nonprofit, they would get the city permits they required to finish their work in business.
Although Santos and Curran both deny any wrongdoing, they are still facing time in court. Their next appearance is scheduled for February 4, 2022.
Federal investigators found text messages indicating that one Mission District “hotel” had a long list of dangerous permit violations. The building was popularly known as “The Pit,” and was in squalid condition when “Client 9,” as the FBI report calls the person, gave $1,500 in donations to Golden Gate Youth Rugby Association in an effort to get Curran to drop violation notices against the hotel property.
Although the FBI paperwork did not list the names of Santos’s clients, it is believed that Pelosi Jr. was trying to get permits and fix problems related to a “residential hotel” located at 1312 Utah Street. This has led some people to believe that Pelosi Jr. is “Client 9” and that he is closely engaged with the fraud allegations against Santos and Curran.
Authorities have interviewed many people who are close to Pelosi Jr., including his ex-girlfriend, who was the building owner, and her lawyer. They also contacted a consultant involved in the sale. All four of these people confirmed that authorities asked them questions about Pelosi Jr. and how he was involved in the derelict property.
A local government worker published Pelosi Jr.’s statement that he was “helping remove the citations from the property” in a February 2019 report that Daily Mail obtained while digging into Pelosi’s connection to the fraud allegations.