SF corruption case: Chinese immigrant businesswoman, also a city commissioner, indicted on federal charge
San Francisco City Hall corruption investigation expands with three more people charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Florence Kong(江苑珊), among the three, is a city commissioner and a well-known Chinese immigrant businesswoman who has been active in the community and local politics for years.
The corruption scandal unfolded earlier this year in January when then-Director of Public Works Mohammed Nuru was arrested by the FBI. Two months later in March, another department head, Tom Hui(許子湯), a Chinese American who oversaw the building inspections, resigned amid the Nuru-related probe.
Now the list grows to involve Kong, who is 62 and owns two companies that have contracts with the city. She was charged with “False Statement to a Government Agency”, and the FBI document provides the details of Kong’s claims and compares those to what she actually had done, which shows clear differences.
According to filed document at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Kong told the FBI that she and Nuru were friends but did not discuss business. She said that Nuru did not help her with any contracts with the city, that she had never offer Nuru money or gifts. However, the recorded wire communications and other statements obtained by the FBI “prove her statements were false”, the document said.
The evidence includes conversations recording transcript, through calls and emails.
“FBI has intercepted over a dozen conversations between Nuru and KONG in 2018 and 2019 discussing KONG’s business”, FBI claims.
One of the most striking evidence from the document indicates Kong spent 291,935 Chinese yuan, approximately $41,000 US dollars, buying a gold Rolex watch, and the watch ended up being at Nuru’s home. The filed document says that the FBI agent executed a search warrant at Nuru’s home in January discovering one same Rolex watch, which has the same unique “serial number” as the one Kong purchased.
Additionally, the indictment stated that Nuru was involved in helping Kong’s friends to find jobs in the city government.
On June 9th, the World Journal emailed Kong with an interview request, but no reply was received in press time.
Kong emigrated from Hong Kong to the U.S. in 1990. She previously lived in the Sunset District of San Francisco and recently moved to Hillsborough of San Mateo County. She holds positions in various community organizations, including serving as the president of the San Francisco Chinese Club, the board member of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and the leader of the Lions club’s local branches, etc.
As a businesswoman, she has been successful in running her companies, Kwan Wo Ironworks and SFR Recovery Inc., in the construction industry. Both companies have direct business contracts with the city. On Kwan Wo’s website, its projects include BART, City College Chinatown campus, and War Memorial Building construction work.
Kong was once being honored for her exceptional achievement as a minority woman in the construction world.
Besides, her business reaches the Chinese media field by managing a Chinese-language radio station in the Bay Area.
Kong is no stranger to local politics. She often participated in campaign events for political candidates from the moderate democrats camp. Plenty of news reports in the Chinese media show that she attended the events supporting San Francisco Mayor London Breed, and she appeared on the Chinese language TV station Channel 26 as a Sunset neighborhood resident to support the moderate candidate Jessica Ho for supervisor in 2018.
She currently serves as a member of the Immigrant Rights Commission in San Francisco, even though she lives in Hillsborough. In 2010, she was appointed by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom to the City Hall Preservation Advisory Commission.
Whether the corruption scandal will tie more Chinese community members to the spotlight awaits time to tell. In January, Walter Wong(黃永樂), a business consultant specializing in city permit expediting, was disclosed to be part of the investigation as his office being raided while Nuru’s arrested. Wong is the Board of Directors of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, where Kong serves on the Supervisor Board.
The Chamber confirmed to the World Journal that both Kong and Wong are still their members on June 9. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce is one of the most powerful Chinese organizations in Chinatown. The late Chinatown power broker Rose Pak was a long-time consultant of the Chamber.
The World Journal has reached out to several close friends of Kong, but all of them declined to comment. Kong has appeared in court for the first time this Monday and will appear in court again next Monday.
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A shorter version of this story in Chinese language appeared on the World Journal on June 10, 2020.
