Defense lawyers accuse FBI of entrapment in Yee corruption case

Source:Agencies Published: 2014-4-24 17:18:02

The San Francisco FBI was accused of entrapping people by luring them into criminal schemes hatched by the government in probing a Chinatown association, a defense lawyer for the accused claimed recently.

Associated Press said that the FBI used millions of dollars, liquor and cigarettes seized in other cases and more than a dozen undercover operatives in an elaborate, seven-year sting operation targeting Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow and his organization Chee Kung Tong, which was thought to be a front for a notorious organized crime syndicate.

The operation led to the indictment of 29 people, including state senator Leland Yee, on charges of money laundering, public corruption and gun trafficking, AP reported.

However, legal experts say that entrapment defenses are rarely successful, as the defendant has to prove not just that they wouldn't have committed the crimes unless persuaded by undercover agents, but that they had no predisposition to commit them, ibtimes.com noted.

"Entrapment is often raised [as a defense] but seldom successful," said Notre Dame University law school professor Jimmy Gurule, a former federal prosecutor and high-ranking US Department of Justice official under President George Bush, according to AP.

With the case moving into its second month, an Oakland woman, described by prosecutors as a "close associate" of Chow, was granted release on $250,000 bail together with her husband in federal court in San Francisco on Friday while they await trial on two criminal charges, said CBS.

CBS noted that both members of the couple were accused of one count of laundering $33,000 for an undercover FBI agent posing as a Mafia member and one count of conspiring with Chow and others to traffic in stolen cigarettes.

They were arrested in New York on March 25 and have been in custody since then, CBS reported.

Chinese American community leaders who spoke with ABC7 News said they wanted the public to know that the community was just as shocked as everyone else when those indictments came down. They say they are concerned about comments in the media in the aftermath of the indictments, which were extremely offensive to the community.

Thirty-eight Chinese American leaders signed an open letter to the public saying that the corruption and gang scandal involving Yee and Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow has cast a dark shadow over an entire community, ABC7 reported.

It also said that thirty-eight leaders signed an open letter to the public. They say the corruption and gang scandal involving suspended Yee and reputed Chinatown gangster Chow has cast a dark shadow over an entire community.



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