Porter pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire and mail fraud. In November, a federal grand jury charged Porter with multiple counts related to honest services mail and wire fraud and bribery of a local official. “Among other things, I knew that Nuru had significant influence over the amount and rate for contracted payments that DPW would pay Recology when DPW dumped waste materials at a Recology recycling facility, known as a ‘tipping fee.’ I knew and understood that Nuru could approve, deny, or otherwise affect other payments to Recology, as well as other operational changes that could affect Recology’s business,” Porter stated in the plea deal. Porter also attended and paid for a $1,182 dinner at Harris Steakhouse for Nuru and other Recology executives in December 2018, and footed the bill for regular breakfasts, the plea deal said. Porter admitted that he knew the funds were not being used for the charity purpose, but instead were for Nuru’s holiday parties and were made “to influence Nuru to use his position with DPW to act for Recology’s benefit.” The payments were concealed as “holiday donations” to a nonprofit, the Lefty O’Doul’s Foundation for Kids, which was established to provide access to baseball and baseball equipment for underprivileged children, the plea agreement states. The bribes included $55,000 in payments for holiday parties Nuru hosted for friends, political supporters and select Public Works employees from October 2017 through January 2020. The charge against him for fraud in January 2020 started a domino effect of criminal actions against other city employees and contractors.Īccording to his plea deal, Porter admitted that he conspired with another former Recology executive and others to bribe Nuru in an effort to win favorable decisions on Recology business and contracts with the S.F. Nuru was at the center of a web of corruption in multimillion-dollar contracts for city services and now faces seven years in prison.
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