California state Senator Leland Yee: Part-time politician, full-time arms dealer
- 10 years ago
California state Senator Leland Yee, a staunch advocate of gun control, was arrested on Wednesday by the FBI for illegally trafficking firearms and multiple counts of public corruption.
Yee supposedly asked for campaign donations in exchange for introducing an undercover FBI agent to an arms trafficker and told him how to obtain shoulder-fired automatic weapons and missiles from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines, according to court documents opened Wednesday.
The charges against Yee were outlined in an FBI affidavit that accused Yee of conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and to illegally import firearms. He was arrested Wednesday and showed up later in federal court, where bail was set at $500,000.
Yee is also accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and accepting cash to provide introductions, help a client get a contract and influence legislation. He or members of his campaign team accepted at least $42,800 in cash or campaign contributions from undercover FBI agents in exchange for taking care of the agents' specific requests.
Senator Yee told an undercover agent he could get him $500,000 to $2.5 million in automatic weapons and missiles from the Philippines. Yee also took the undercover agent through the entire process of getting the arms from a Muslim Separatist group in the Philippines to bringing them to the United States, according to the affidavit by FBI Special Agent Emmanuel V. Pascua.
Leland was also kind enough to accept cash from another undercover agent to set up a meeting, while in another instance, he took cash from the feds in exchange for a Senate proclamation.
Senator Yee was arrested on Wednesday with 25 other people including Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow. Looks like it's going to be Chinese on the prison menu.
Yee supposedly asked for campaign donations in exchange for introducing an undercover FBI agent to an arms trafficker and told him how to obtain shoulder-fired automatic weapons and missiles from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines, according to court documents opened Wednesday.
The charges against Yee were outlined in an FBI affidavit that accused Yee of conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and to illegally import firearms. He was arrested Wednesday and showed up later in federal court, where bail was set at $500,000.
Yee is also accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and accepting cash to provide introductions, help a client get a contract and influence legislation. He or members of his campaign team accepted at least $42,800 in cash or campaign contributions from undercover FBI agents in exchange for taking care of the agents' specific requests.
Senator Yee told an undercover agent he could get him $500,000 to $2.5 million in automatic weapons and missiles from the Philippines. Yee also took the undercover agent through the entire process of getting the arms from a Muslim Separatist group in the Philippines to bringing them to the United States, according to the affidavit by FBI Special Agent Emmanuel V. Pascua.
Leland was also kind enough to accept cash from another undercover agent to set up a meeting, while in another instance, he took cash from the feds in exchange for a Senate proclamation.
Senator Yee was arrested on Wednesday with 25 other people including Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow. Looks like it's going to be Chinese on the prison menu.