Sen. Leland Yee arrested on corruption charges UPDATED

Pub date March 26, 2014
SectionPolitics Blog

 California Sen. Leland Yee (D-SF) has reportedly been arrested on corruption charges following an FBI sting and raid on his office. In addition to our 2011 profile of Yee’s checkered voting history, over the last six months we at the Guardian have also been investigating Yee’s unseemly votes and actions on behalf of monied interests, so check back later to read our findings and more on today’s unfolding actions against Yee.

UPDATE: We posted a story on Yee’s unseemly reputation and voting history here, and we’ll soon be posting details of his indictment, which is just now being unsealed.  

UPDATE: We and other journalists are still pouring through the 137-page criminal complaint against Yee and 25 other defendants, but in short it charges that Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow “is currently the Dragonhead, or leader, of the San Francisco-based Chee Kung Tong organization,” an organized crime syndicate involved in widespread criminal activities and money laundering. And it charges that Yee, “aka California State Senator Leland Yee, aka Uncle Leland,” helped run an illegal firearms trafficking operation along with political consultant Keith Jackson, a member of the CKT syndicate. Yee is charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and to illegally import firearms, which is ironic given that his legislative bright spot last year was the passage of three tough gun control bills, as we discuss in our related story on his political history.