LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal grand
jury has returned conspiracy charges against California State Senator
Leland Yee, adding to the suspended lawmaker's legal woes after he was
indicted earlier this year for corruption and taking part in a scheme to
traffic guns.
Yee, 65, is one of three California state senators, along with
Democrats Roderick Wright and Ron Calderon, who were suspended in
March over ethics charges, costing their party a cherished
two-thirds legislative majority in the Senate during an election
year.
Yee, a longtime gun-control advocate, was charged with wire fraud
and conspiracy in April over wide-ranging corruption accusations,
including that he had accepted cash from an undercover agent posing
as a customer seeking to purchase illegal weapons. He pleaded not
guilty at the time.
The latest indictment against Yee, which was entered in U.S.
District Court in San Francisco, includes and expands on the April
charges. It accuses him of conspiracy to engage in a pattern of
racketeering activity under a law originally used against the mob.
Friday's indictment says that Yee's campaign team was the enterprise
that carried out the conspiracy beginning in 2011, by soliciting
contributions for his election in exchange for his votes and
influence in the state Senate.
A former San Francisco supervisor and one-time mayoral candidate,
Yee is also accused of a related charge of conspiracy to obtain
property under color of official right.
In one act covered by the latest charges, Keith Jackson, a campaign
consultant for Yee, told an undercover FBI agent that Yee could help
the owner of a National Football League team, the indictment stated.
The undercover agent offered to pay Yee $60,000 for a favorable vote
on a worker's compensation bill before California lawmakers that
would be costly to NFL teams, and the campaign consultant accepted
the deal although the $60,000 was never paid, the indictment said.
Yee was arrested earlier this year but is free on $500,000 bond. He
faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted of the charges
against him. He withdrew from a race for California secretary of
state after his arrest.
Yee's attorney, James Lassart, could not immediately be reached for
comment.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
