FBI Agents Raid Supervisor Ed Jew's Offices

May 19 - KGO (KGO) -- A San Francisco city supervisor is the target of a corruption investigation by the FBI. That much we know, after agents served warrants on Supervisor Ed Jew's office in City Hall, as well as other properties he owns.

The warrants are sealed but sources say that among the items specified are serial numbers of hundred dollar bills.

Ed Jew has been on the Board of Supervisors for five months. He's the most conservative member of the board and considered a straight shooter.

Supervisor Bevan Dufty says there's not a whiff of scandal or bad behavior around him.

Bevan Dufty, San Francisco Supervisor: "Obviously our heart goes out to Ed. As members of the elected family this is the last thing you'd ever expect to happen or ever want to happen and I know it's got to be incredibly difficult for Ed and for his family and so truthfully our heart goes out to him and we hope for the best."

FBI agents from the Public Corruption Unit served warrants on one of the properties in the Sunset listed as belonging to Ed Jew, his flower shop in Chinatown, his home, and his office in City Hall.

Vince Keehan, Sunset District Resident: "Must have been about 20 FBI guys all over the place. I came home earlier and there was a guy sitting right here on his car and I was kind of 'What's this guy doing here all evening?' You know. Then there was a bunch of guys went around the back and they were jumping over the fence and all that, all with the FBI shirts on their back and all that kind of thing."

Jew told the San Francisco Chronicle he's under investigation for accepting $40,000 in cash from a group of businessmen looking for help with city permit problems.

The money changed hands at Jew's Chinatown flower shop. Jew said he passed the money on to a business associate named Robert Chan. Chan is also named in the warrant.

Investigating public corruption is one of the FBI's highest priorities. The Political Corruption Unit most frequently targets politicians who illegally sell favors.

Dean Johnson, ABC7 Legal Analyst: "This is very, very early in this investigation. We are at the search warrant stage. The only information we have are the bare minimum statements by the FBI and things people happen to have seen or to have heard. This appears to be consistent with possibly an exchange of funds with an undercover agent for public corruption, but at this stage we should be very careful not to rush to judgment, not to make any assumptions and not to speculate."

Have a tip on this or another investigation? E-mail the ABC7 I-Team or call 1-888-40-I-TEAM.

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