Voice of OC got its investigative hands on the damning independent legal analysis report on the property swap between Pulido’s family trust and a city contractor. The report is more than six-months. The City Council had initially voted to release it on September 30, 2014 if the District Attorney or FPPC failed to take action against Pulido, they relented at the last minute to a DA’s request to keep the report secret while they, and other agencies, continued to investigate the transaction.
As we expected, such things as an explosive legal investigation report could not possibly be kept silent in the context of a hotly contested political battle during an election year. The report documents, in a clears analysis of the laws governing conflicts of interest, the chain of events that could potentially result in criminal charges against Pulido.
From the Voice of OC story published this morning:
The report, based on an investigation by former Riverside County District Attorney Grover Trask, found Pulido tried to cover up his real estate transactions with NAPA Orange County Auto Parts owner Rupen James Akoubian, which ultimately netted the mayor a $197,000 profit.
At the very least, the report concludes, Pulido broke the state’s 1974 Political Reform Act on multiple occasions because he did not report the transactions on his financial disclosure statements, known as Form 700s, and voted on a contract for the auto parts store. The penalties for violations of that law could include fines and misdemeanor charges.
But more importantly, the report argues, Pulido’s deal with Akoubian very likely constitutes a willful violation of state government code, section 1090, which prohibits public officials from having financial interests in their agency’s contracts.
If that turns out to be the case, Pulido could face possible prison time and be barred from holding public office.
The details of the report support the frustration that the City Council majority has had regarding the legal implications of Mayor Pulido’s actions. They have been the target of accusations of covering up for Pulido by not releasing the report given the detail of already published allegations against Pulido related to his property transactions, and subsequent failure to disclose his financial interests with a city contractor.
The fact that the District Attorney has failed to take any action thus far, has raised public concern that the DA may be covering up for the mayor because of the close relationship between the Mayor and District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
We have to only ho[e, that the release of this information, will spur the legal authorities to do their jobs.
The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other (usually government) officials.
Time to find out who leaked the report and interfered with the investigation and immediately change them with obstruction.
a question for you then; is Edward Snowden a hero or being a whistle blower or a criminal?
That’s a dumb question – Snowden is obviously both.
Doesn’t mean a crime’s been committed in SA though (by someone other than Pulido that is.)
He’s one or the other Vern.
IN the case of who leaked the report, I reviewed the entire document and fail to see how any investigation has been compromised.