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Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

More Trouble for ‘Shrimp Boy’ and Sen. Yee

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A federal grand jury added racketeering to the expansive list of charges against Chinatown mob boss Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, suspended California Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and Yee political consultant Keith Jackson.

A revised indictment was issued Friday, accusing Chow, Yee, Jackson and 14 others of running a criminal enterprise. The new charges carry an additional 20-year prison sentence and forfeiture of all illegally acquired property.

Jackson, who allegedly solicited bribes and campaign contributions in exchange for political favors from Yee, pleaded not guilty to all charges at a hearing on Monday.

The charges stem from a five-year undercover FBI investigation into the Ghee Kung Tong, a Chinese-American organization headed by Chow. An FBI agent posing as a member of La Cosa Nostra used Chow's connections to launder money he attributed to Chow as gambling and drug proceeds.

The agent had allegedly been introduced to Yee through their mutual acquaintance Jackson, a political consultant hired to raise money for Yee's political campaigns. Through meetings with Jackson and the undercover agent, Yee agreed to help the agent obtain guns from Muslim separatist groups in the Philippines in exchange for campaign donations, according to the charges.

To raise money to pay off the debts from his failed mayoral bid in 2011, Yee also allegedly agreed to support medical marijuana legislation, provide an official proclamation honoring the Ghee Kung Tong on its anniversary and help a phony software company called Well Tech get grants and contracts from the state government.

Both Yee and Jackson are free on bail. Chow has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.

Their next court appearance before Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer is set for August 7.

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