Having served about one year of his four-year prison sentence, former SF Public Utilities Commission general manager Harlan Kelly is appealing his conviction for City Hall fraud and lying on a bank loan application.
Back in 2020 when the Mohammed Nuru public corruption scandal was everyday headline news, one of the more shocking headlines came when the FBI raided the home of SF Public Utilities Commission General Manager Harlan Kelly. This was especially surprising because Kelly was also married to then-City Administrator Naomi Kelly, and even more surprising when the FBI found suspected cocaine in the Kellys’ home.
Nothing ever came of the cocaine thing, though plenty came of multiple counts of corruption on which Harlan Kelly was found guilty. Kelly was sentenced to four years in prison, and started serving that sentence on June 19, 2024.
But now after a year in prison, KQED reports that Kelly is appealing his fraud convictions. It’s not actually a surprise. According to KQED, his attorneys actually appealed the case last year “days later” after he was convicted, and the appeal is just making its way to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Though now Kelly has a new attorney, because as KQED says, he “testified that he could no longer afford criminal defense attorney” Brian Getz who had represented him at trial, and submitted this very appeal. His new attorney Stevem Kalar, who was appointed by the court, is a former Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California who is now in private practice.
The charges on which Kelly was found guilty include taking bribes from former permit expediter Walter Wong for steering city projects to Wong’s company, and colluding with SF mega-landlord Victor Makras to give false information on bank loan applications.
Image: SF Water Power Sewer via Youtube
