Keith Jackson, a former Yee consultant and one of 29 defendants in the case, also pleaded not guilty at a joint arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero. Another major subject in the federal probe, Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, was allowed to postpone his plea after his new attorney, Tony Serra, asked for more time.
Yee, a San Francisco Democrat who was running for his party’s nomination for secretary of state until he was arrested and charged last month, was expressionless as he walked up to the front of the courtroom with attorney James A. Lassart. Spero read the charges to him and their potential penalties, and asked if Yee understood.
“I do,” Yee replied.
Prosecutors assert that Jackson introduced Yee to several undercover agents posing as people seeking political favors in exchange for donations to Yee’s campaigns for San Francisco mayor in 2011 and secretary of state in 2014.
