Thread: Mexican puts $500,000 in illegal contributions into U.S. elections

AZANO BUILT WEALTH, REPUTATION WITH IRON FIST

Businessman eyed in S.D. corruption scandal well-versed at using connections to advantage

Greg Moran & Morgan Lee • U-T 12:01a.m. Jan 26, 2014

If a Mexican moneyman was looking to turn San Diego’s waterfront into Miami West, maybe he got the idea while enjoying the view from the Trump high-rise on South Ocean Drive in Hollywood Beach.

The 41-story tower features a wine cellar and tasting salon, cigar lounge and — on the 40th floor — a 5,000-square-foot, five-bedroom, five-bathroom suite owned by José Susumo Azano Matsura.

Azano, 48, has not been charged in San Diego’s latest scandal. But a lobbyist, a political consultant and a security consultant all face allegations in federal court that they injected $500,000 of his money into local campaigns — an illegal act because he’s a foreign national.

His motivation, prosecutors said in court Friday, was to transform downtown San Diego.

Azano has several private jets at his disposal. His whereabouts aren’t known, whether he’s at one of his two homes in Coronado, the condo in Florida or closer to his home base in Mexico — where he has also been mentioned in a federal probe involving money laundering.

There are two Azano-owned homes on the Coronado Cays waterfront, both of which were searched by the FBI last week. At one home on Green Turtle Road, a woman in a new Cadillac Escalade drove away shortly after 1 p.m. on Friday. A man at the home indicated it was Azano’s wife.

Later, a young man who did not identify himself answered the bell at the expansive home on Buccaneer Way. He said Azano was not at home. He did not respond when asked if he knew where Azano was, then shut the door.

Parked on the curb outside the home was a 2014 Mercedes with a license plate frame with “Symbolic” emblazoned on it. State motor vehicle records said the car was leased to the Azano family.

Symbolic Motor Car Co. in La Jolla is owned by businessman Marc Chase. Federal documents do not name Chase, but contain enough information to identify him as a “straw man” donor who gave Azano’s money to campaigns in his own name.

Federal authorities confirmed Friday that a search warrant had been served at the car dealership, too.

MEXICO AND BEYOND

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, to a family of Japanese descent, Azano went to work for his father’s associated construction businesses before his 20th birthday, according to information on his company website.

In 1998, Azano would found Security Tracking Devices. Initially focused on location devices for cargo vehicles, the company prospered as it installed broadband phone service at Mexico’s federal social security agency.

He has parlayed his family construction fortune into a cross-border empire by using bold business tactics, government connections and a bare-knuckle style to expand his influence.

“The company offers software and hardware solutions in border protection, urban management, cyber security, transportation, law enforcement, and natural disaster preparedness for operating systems throughout the world, and their reach has stretched far past its initial borders in Mexico,” one news release says. “They have expanded into areas of South America and beyond, remaining one step ahead of the technology curve as well as the most advanced of cyber criminals.”

Azano has proved adept at securing lucrative government contracts in Mexico — from license-plate supply contracts to military equipment for eavesdropping on cellphones and text conversations — casting suspicion over his close ties to politicians and military commanders.

Azano’s business attracted international attention after winning a $375 million contract to provide phone-hacking equipment to Mexico’s Defense Secretariat.

The technology, rumored to be capable of tapping conversations on previously impervious Nextel networks and BlackBerry devices, exploited an indispensable niche for a military engaged in an all-out offensive against organized crime under former President Felipe Calderón.

The contract with Security Tracking Devices was flagged later for irregularities and concerns of corruption in 2011 by central government auditors, amid questions in the Mexican media about the steep markup on equipment traced by media to Israeli suppliers, and whether competitive bidding took place.

AZANO V. SEMPRA

It was a land dispute in Baja California that cemented Azano’s reputation for throwing around his weight in business in political circles.

San Diego-based utility holding company Sempra Energy, a Fortune 500 company, identified Azano as the financial backer of an aggrieved rancher, Ramon Eugenio Sanchez Ritchie.

The rancher asserted that he was forcibly removed in 2006 from an outlying parcel at the company’s Costa Azul natural gas export terminal. The facility, located 15 miles north of urban Ensenada, began operations in 2008, off-loading and processing liquefied natural gas that arrives by ship from overseas.

The conflict boiled over Feb. 11, 2011, when dozens of Ensenada police officers swarmed the $1.5 billion energy installation, cutting through locks, confronting the operators and attempting to shut it down.

The police said they were dispatched by the mayor of Ensenada because of “flagrant violations” of safety, zoning and environmental rules. Sempra told another story.

The company alleged later in U.S. District Court that wire payments of $2 million were delivered in the preceding weeks to an account controlled by then-Ensenada Mayor Enrique Pelayo Torres and his son. The company claimed Azano was behind the payments.

Pelayo Torres denied the allegations, and Sempra’s racketeering claim against Azano was later dismissed by a judge.

How Azano joined with Sanchez Ritchie to take on Sempra is unclear even to energy-sector analysts tracking the events.

“Who knows? It’s possible that they met in other circles and saw that (Costa Azul) was a very big, profitable investment, and that sparked a little glimmer in his eyes,” said energy analyst Miriam Grunstein at the Mexico City-based think tank CIDE.

Azano’s involvement in the Costa Azul terminal was the subject of conversations on national security and economic security between Calderón and President Barack Obama, El Universal newspaper and others reported.

Taking office, current Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto was reportedly briefed in detail on the dispute at the natural gas terminal.

The land conflict, bankrolled by Azano, grinds on to this day in Mexico’s state, federal and agrarian court systems.

U-T San Diego obtained a contract signed by Sanchez Ritchie, ensuring Azano a 55 percent share of any financial settlement with Sempra. It also gives him two-thirds of the land — a coastal haven near where Sempra built a luxury-appointed, mission-style resort of its own for executive retreats.

FAMILY HOLDINGS

The extent of the Azano family holdings are another public mystery. Mexican media accounts routinely estimate the fortune in excess of a billion dollars.

Grupo Azano, founded by Azano’s father, José Susumo Azano Moritani, is anchored by Jalisco-based TEI Construccion, catering to both multinational corporations and local government agencies on sprawling factories, a convention center and grandiose public library outside Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city.

Aside from being embroiled in the Sempra controversy, Azano kept a much-lower profile in San Diego until last week, when his name first surfaced in the corruption investigation. While he is not named in the court documents made public so far, sources have said Azano is the “foreign national” who orchestrated secret donations that were funneled through shell companies and straw donors to mayoral campaigns in San Diego in 2012 and 2013.

A federal complaint said in October 2012 that $120,000 of funds Azano had deposited in bank accounts controlled by Chase went to an independent expenditure committee supporting former Mayor Bob Filner. He also made two donations totaling $60,000 to the national and local Democratic Party committees, money federal authorities also said came from Azano.

A company he controlled also poured $100,000 into supporting District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ unsuccessful 2012 campaign for mayor.

Azano’s wife, Margarita Hester de Azano, also gave Dumanis $500 in December 2011 and $700 in June 2013. A male relative named Edward, likely Azano’s son, also gave Dumanis $500 in December 2011.

Elizabeth Lugo, a business associate from an Azano company called Flight Maintenance Solutions, gave Dumanis $700 in May 2013.

KENTUCKY LENDER

Public records in Broward County, where Azano has his Florida condo, show that in November Azano entered an “assignment of rents” agreement. The lender was Gus Goldsmith, a Louisville, Ky., businessman well known in that city for his Action Loans “hard money” lending business.

The documents said that Goldsmith loaned the Azanos $2.65 million in November, payable in five years.

Hard money lenders specialize in loans to people or businesses who can’t get them from traditional lenders. (“When Banks Say No, We Say Yes,” reads an online slogan the company uses). They’re often tied to the value of a real estate asset and are similar to short-term bridge loans. Interest rates are usually higher than traditional loans.

It’s unknown why someone with Azano’s resources would need the help of a hard-money lender. Goldsmith did not respond to a request via email and phone to comment. The document says the Azanos signed over any rent or “all monies due or to become due” to Goldsmith as security for the loan.

A profile of Goldsmith in a Louisville business publication said that his empire includes pawn shops, buying distressed real estate, payday loans and the hard money business. He drives a $350,000 Bentley. One of his companies last year was implicated in a large gift-card theft ring in the city, but Goldsmith was not charged and said the company was used by the ring.

http://m.utsandiego.com/news/2014/ja...ith-iron-fist/

http://www.alipac.us/f9/how-mexican-...ctions-296189/

Ravneet Singh

Singh, 41, is a self-styled political guru whose company, ElectionMail, has aided high-profile politicos such as Newt Gingrich, John Boehner, Jesse Jackson Jr. and Marco Rubio.
Authorities say he helped funnel about $500,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Mexican tycoon Jose Susumo Azano Matsura into the San Diego mayors races in 2012 and 2013 and a congressional campaign in 2012.

UTSANDIEGO.COM

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2. Ravi Singh
3. Ravi Singh is an American entrepreneur, author, and former politician. He is the founder and CEO of Electionmall Technologies, a non-partisan company that offers technology products and services tailored to those running for political office. Wikipedia

Political corruption case grows

City Hall lobbyist charged as politicians return campaign funds

By Craig Gustafson8:56 P.M.JAN. 22, 2014

POLITICAL CORRUPTION CASE EXPANDS

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Ravi Singh, from a news release


Marco Polo Cortes, a San Diego-based lobbyist, in 2008. Cortes made an initial appearance in federal district court Wednesday on charges that he conspired to finance political campaigns using money from an illegal foreign source. — U-T File Photo


Former San Diego police Officer Ernesto "Ernie" Encinas is shown in June 2011 when he was representing the Pure Platinum strip club, one of his security business clients. — John Gibbins / U-T San Diego


The corruption case involving a Mexican businessman trying to illegally influence San Diego elections widened Wednesday as a City Hall lobbyist was added to the conspiracy charges and politicians rushed to return campaign contributions from those tainted by the scandal.

Marco Polo Cortes, 44, was arrested on a warrant Tuesday in Little Italy and appeared before a federal judge Wednesday on charges that he conspired to finance political campaigns with funds from an illegal foreign source. He faces up to five years in prison.

Also charged in a similar complaint released a day earlier are Ravneet Singh, owner of a Washington, D.C.-based campaign-services firm,
and Ernesto Encinas, a former San Diego police detective who retired in 2009.

The Mexican businessman in question is Jose Susumo Azano Matsura, who owns a home in Coronado. He was not named in federal documents, but they included enough information to identify him. Cortes, Encinas and Singh are accused of funneling Azano’s money through shell companies and a straw donor to circumvent federal law which prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to campaigns at any level.

One of the biggest open questions of the scandal is why Azano spent more than $500,000 to try to influence San Diego elections. His money ended up helping the causes of District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, a Republican who lost the 2012 mayor’s race; Bob Filner, a Democrat who won that contest and later resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal; and an as-yet-unidentified federal candidate on the November 2012 ballot. Azano also tried to help former mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher, a Democrat, although there’s no evidence that he spent any money on Fletcher’s behalf or that Fletcher knew anything about it.

COMPLETE COVERAGE: FOREIGN MONEY PROBE

• Foreign money, local campaigns: A guide
• Feds: Azano wanted 'Miami West' on SD bay

The newest alleged conspirator, Cortes, is a familiar face at City Hall. His company, Cortes Communications, lobbies city and police officials on behalf of several high-profile clients including American Towing Inc., Greyhound Bus Lines, Mission Brewing, American Medical Response and the United Association of Food Trucks of San Diego.

Document


Complaint against Ravneet Singh

DOWNLOAD .PDF

The complaint against Cortes described him as a “business associate and friend” of Encinas. He is accused of helping Singh and Encinas with their attempts to spend the foreign national’s money on behalf of the unknown federal candidate, Filner and Fletcher. The complaint doesn’t name the candidates although a source close to the investigation confirmed all of their identities to U-T San Diego except for the federal candidate.

The largest of those transactions totaled $340,000 to help Filner’s candidacy. Encinas and Cortes met with a Filner representative in or around October 2012 and offered to spend $190,000 on social-media services for Filner and never report it. Filner’s representative — who later became a confidential informant and received immunity — agreed and no invoice was ever submitted or paid in violation of campaign law.

In addition, Cortes and Encinas funneled $120,000 of Azano’s money through a straw donor to a pro-Filner political-action committee and also $30,000 to a Democratic Party committee. The straw donor has been identified as Marc Chase, co-owner of Symbolic Motor Car Company in La Jolla. Chase made those exact same donations through his companies during that same period and the U-T source confirmed he is part of the probe.

Acting U.S. Attorney Cindy Cipriani applauded the FBI and Internal Revenue Service for the investigation.

“We will not tolerate fraud in our elections at any level, and we will root out the influence of foreign money in our electoral processes and on our elected leaders,” she said.

U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy recused herself once the investigation began, according to a statement from her office. Duffy didn’t believe an actual conflict existed, but sought to avoid the possible appearance of one, the statement said without elaborating on the conflict issue.

Cortes is a former Chula Vista planning commissioner who resigned from that post eight years ago to concentrate on his lobbying business.

He’s been involved in politics since the 1990s, had consulting contracts with government agencies and worked for then-San Diego City Councilman Juan Vargas and county Supervisor Greg Cox. He also ran unsuccessfully for Chula Vista City Council in 2000.

In September, Cortes donated $999 to the mayoral campaign of David Alvarez. Earlier he had donated $500 to San Diego Councilman Todd Gloria and $750 to Filner.

Meanwhile, four San Diego politicians announced Wednesday they had returned a combined $5,900 in campaign contributions they had received from Encinas, a former police detective at the center of the growing scandal.

Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, Dumanis, Gloria and congressional candidate Carl DeMaio each said they had given the money back or were in the processing of doing so. Filner, the only other city politician to accept money from Encinas, hasn’t responded to questions about it. He received $500.

None of the contributions from Encinas are considered illegal, but some of the politicians chose to distance themselves from Encinas nonetheless.

Vargas received the most — a combined $3,500 — from Encinas for his successful 2012 congressional bid.

He said he directed the Democratic Party and his own campaign committee to return any funds from Encinas.
“I am shocked at these claims and, if true, am offended by the actions of these individuals,” Vargas said. “If any contributions did not come from the disclosed source, I was not aware of it.”

Dumanis returned $1,400 she received from Encinas and his wife for her re-election bid as district attorney but couldn’t return the $1,000 she received from him for the 2012 mayor’s race.

DeMaio received $500 from Encinas in September 2013 for his current congressional bid while Gloria received the same amount in his 2012 re-election bid for City Council. Both sums were returned.

Dumanis and Vargas also have additional connections to those involved in the scandal.

Dumanis said she has known Encinas for 20 years and met Azano once through him. She declined to address the specifics in the complaint, which states that Azano spent more than $200,000 to help her mayoral candidacy.

“I can’t say anything because I don’t know anything,” Dumanis said. “They are allegations. As district attorney, I certainly know and believe in the system of justice.”

The complaint also says Encinas and Cortes met with an unidentified Candidate 2 to make a similar offer of spending help. Vargas fits the complaint’s description of Candidate 2 as someone running for federal office in November 2012. Besides the campaign contributions from Encinas, Vargas also named him one of the state’s 55 electors to the Electoral College to vote for president in 2012, according to the CalPolitiCal blog.
Vargas didn’t respond to questions about his relationship with Encinas or if he is Candidate 2.

http://web.utsandiego.com/news/2014/...scandal-grows/

‘GURU’ HAS BEEN POLITICOS’ GO-TO GUY

Accused owner of D.C.-based firm has provided services for candidates, parties, PACs across U.S.

LEE ANN O’NEAL & TRENT SEIBERT • U-T 12:01a.m. Jan 27, 2014


Ravneet Singh The self-styled political guru accused in a plot to funnel money illegally into San Diego election campaigns has worked for more than 160 politicians and groups across the nation, charging them $1.8 million.

Ravneet Singh, 41, whose company is based in Washington, D.C., built websites, collected Internet contributions and arranged computerized telephone calls on behalf of high-profile figures including Newt Gingrich, John Boehner, Jesse Jackson Jr., Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist.

The Republican Party of Minnesota and the presidential campaign of former U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, were both top customers, spending about $100,000 each on Singh, according to a U-T Watchdog review of 12 years of federal disclosures.

But his top employer was Chuck DeVore, a former assemblymember from Orange County who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate from California in 2010. DeVore paid Singh $286,000 in total spending.

Singh is accused of helping to funnel about $500,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Mexican tycoon José Susumo Azano Matsura into the San Diego mayoral races in 2012 and 2013 and a local congressional campaign in 2012.

Singh’s connections might suggest he was in a position to taint scores of campaigns, although there is no indication in court documents that Singh’s customers outside San Diego have anything to do with the federal probe. DeVore said he never saw anything untoward in his dealings with Singh.

“When I worked with him, he was always very careful to comply with the most recent Federal Election Commission rules,” DeVore told U-T Watchdog.

“I’m rather surprised about this. Never once in my dealings with him was there any suggestion that, ‘Gee, you can have Joe Millionaire send us $100,000 and we can break it into $2,000 chunks to make it look like it was from different people.’ There was never that suggestion.”

DeVore’s Senate bid used one of Singh’s companies — ElectionMall — to place banner ads on websites such as the Drudge Report. By doing so, his campaign was able to raise millions of dollars using very little seed money.
Indeed, DeVore said his campaign chose ElectionMall for the job because prices were less than competitors.

“On one hand it would be extremely disappointing for me to find out that he did something willfully illegal, but it would be sad to find out if he was just swept into something by providing the service,” DeVore said. “I spent a little bit of time with him and recommended him to other people as well. He was one of these classic American success stories. He seemed to really love the country and the ability to have freedom of worship. It all seemed to me to be very genuine.”

Singh is the son of immigrants who grew up in Chicago. As a teenager, he attended a military academy in Aurora, Ill., where he was not allowed to wear his Sikh turban during military drills, according to his website — which features a cartoon version of Singh in a turban.

The controversy eventually led to federal legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan that allowed him to graduate with his turban, his site says.

Singh wrote a book published in 2008 called “Leadership by Turban,” in which he talks, in part, about maintaining his religious identity while becoming a community leader.

“I’m an American, and I wear a turban,” Singh writes in his book. “A lot of people think that’s an odd combination.”

He goes on to say: “I believe that truth is the most valuable gift that you can share with other people.”

In 1997, Singh ran for a seat in the Illinois Legislature in a district west of Chicago and blamed his loss in part on his refusal to remove his turban during the campaign, according to Asian Outlook Magazine.

“If I do that, I will not be true to my faith and my work,” he told the magazine. “If I give up my identity and values, I’ll not be Asian or an American. I’ll be nobody.”

He raised campaign contributions at a more rapid rate than his competitors, according to news reports.

In addition to collecting payments for politicians, and charging them for his services, Singh has also been a regular and bipartisan campaign donor himself.

Federal records indicate he gave $245 to John Kerry in 2004 and $4,000 to Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2005. They also show he gave $1,000 to George W. Bush in 1999, $750 to the Republican Party of Tennessee in 2006 and $230 to Montana’s GOP in 2004.

His chief involvement in politics, though, has been through helping campaigns across the country via his company, ElectionMall.

In the 2004 election cycle, records show that campaigns paid Singh’s company $3,241. By 2008, that number jumped to $260,221; in 2010, $879,354; and in 2012, $529,866.

He was a presence at state political conventions and was a seasoned backslapper and glad-hander to pick up lucrative contracts, those who know him say.

His clients came from across the country, from the California, Minnesota and New Hampshire Republican Parties to the Lyndon LaRouche political action committee.

Other clients included the Minuteman PAC,
Life and Liberty PAC and a group called Decidedly Unhappy Mainstream Patriots Rejecting Evil-Mongering Incompetent Democrats, or the DUMP REID PAC.

Locally, he was somewhat less utilized. Records show that District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis hired Singh in April 2013 for $750 of web services. U-T Watchdog checked records for every other elected countywide official for the last three years and found none of the others had hired Singh.

Many who hired Singh were happy with his services. Some were not.
His most high-profile moment before the federal charges came in 2009 during the gubernatorial campaign of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who challenged Gov. Rick Perry for the GOP nomination.

Hutchison’s website had built-in hidden search terms that suggested Perry was gay. Singh, who created the site, was let go after news reports exposed the hidden search terms. Hutchison lost to Perry in 2010.

A client who hired Singh’s company to make robocalls told U-T Watchdog the candidate was not pleased when ElectionMall made the calls to voters in the wrong congressional district.

Hunter, who paid Singh for web services for his presidential campaign, had his website hacked in 2008, Slate reported. The hackers prominently posted the message, “Kiss You Babyyy yeahhh (:”

Another client: The San Diego County Republican Party.

The group canceled Singh’s last contract, under which ElectionMall did email blasts, as of Dec. 31. Tony Krvaric, the party’s chairman, says it’s unlikely Singh will get another contact from the local GOP.

“He’s a good salesman,” Krvaric said. “He’s a glad-hander, a consummate salesman, a used salesman kind of guy. Ravi could sell ice to an Eskimo.”

trent.seibert@utsandiego.com (619) 356-1649 Twitter: @TrentSeibert Joel Hoffmann contributed to this report.

http://m.utsandiego.com/news/2014/ja...cos-go-to-guy/

'War room' alleged for illicit campaign funds

By Kristina Davis5:15 P.M.FEB. 18, 2014

SAN DIEGO — Three men accused of funneling more than $500,000 in foreign money into San Diego political races went so far as to set up a “war room” in the campaign office of a candidate for mayor in 2012, according to a grand jury indictment filed Tuesday.

The candidate is identifiable in court papers as former Mayor Bob Filner, based on other details.

Marco Polo Cortes, 44, a City Hall lobbyist, and Ravneet Singh, 41, owner of a campaign services company, both pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a conspiracy charge in San Diego federal court.

The two are accused along with another unnamed co-conspirator of using the war room to make unreported contributions to the campaign from a Mexican businessman, the indictment says. It is against federal law for a foreign national to donate to campaigns.

The source of the money has not been made public in court documents, but the papers contain enough information to indicate it is José Susumo Azano Matsura, a Mexican tycoon whose family owns two homes in Coronado.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the donor wanted to turn San Diego’s bayfront into a West Coast version of Miami and sought political clout to do so.

Prosecutors say the men got around the law by channeling the funds through an unnamed “straw donor,” who records indicate is La Jolla luxury car dealer Marc Chase.

There is no public record indicating that either Azano or Chase have been arrested or charged in the case, although the FBI has searched Azano’s home and Chase’s business, Symbolic Motor Car Company.

Former San Diego police Detective Ernesto Encinas, who provided security for Azano, is also accused in the scheme. He waived his right to require the prosecution to present the case to a grand jury last week and has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and filing a false tax return.

Authorities said Encinas, who owns a security consulting business, was involved because he wanted to have Police Chief Bill Lansdowne fired. Sources say Encinas, 58, wanted a police chief who would be more flexible on downtown alcohol licensing, which in turn would boost Encinas’ business relationships with nightclubs.

Cortes, Singh and Encinas are free on bond.

“My client denies any wrongdoing and intends to vigorously defend himself at trial,” Singh’s lawyer, Michael Lipman, said outside court. Singh, who owns ElectionMall based in Washington, D.C., lives in Chicago, he said.

Besides the Filner campaign, the three men, who were arrested last month, are accused of covertly sending foreign financial support to the 2012 San Diego mayoral campaign of District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and to the campaign of an unnamed congressional candidate, believed to be Rep. Juan Vargas, Cortes’ former boss.

The indictment states Cortes received, then forwarded an email from a representative of the candidate believed to be Vargas that included a portion of the election law “for the purpose of helping the co-conspirator circumvent these very rules.”

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/...-cortes-singh/

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The corruption goes all the way to DC.