FBI data collection program exposed

Good morning, so close to Friday!

After years of operating under the radar, the cover has been pulled back on an FBI program, centered around Southern California, to amass iris scan information in a federal database.

CalWatchdog has more.

In other news: 

• The FPPC will consider a measure that would “allow state regulators to require suspected lobbyists to provide evidence showing whether they’re being paid to influence government officials,” reports The San Jose Mercury News/AP.
• “Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration now says it will consider requiring homebuilders to pay construction workers at rates equivalent to union wages as part of its effort to streamline housing development across California,” writes the Los Angeles Times.
• Why is Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is having such a great time at the Republican National Convention? The answer? It’s easy to pick fights to rally supporters back in CA. The Sacramento Bee has more.  
• Who is Dean “Dino” Cortopassi, 78, the man behind Prop. 53, which would require voter approval of any public works project funded by at least $2 billion of revenue bonds? Capitol Weekly has more.

Legislature:

• Gone ’til August

Gov. Brown:

• No public events announced

Tips: matt@calwatchdog.com

Follow us: @calwatchdog @mflemingterp

New followers: @jstorres

After years of operating under the radar, the cover has been pulled back on an FBI program, centered around Southern California, to amass iris scan information in a federal database.

“To create that pool of scans, the FBI has struck information-sharing agreements with other agencies, including U.S. Border Patrol, the Pentagon, and local law enforcement departments. California has been most aggressive about collecting scans, but agencies in Texas and Missouri can also add to and search the system,” the Verge reported. “The result amounts to a new national biometric database that stretches the traditional boundaries of a pilot program, while staying just outside the reach of privacy mandates often required for such data-gathering projects.”

“In California, the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino have contributed scans, with the latter’s sheriff’s department harvesting more than 200,000 scans alone,” as Mashable noted. “An average of 189 iris scans were collected every day at the start of 2016.” 

According to the Verge, those scans were collated and sent to the FBI by the California Department of Justice, which signed a memorandum with the Bureau in 2013 that set down the responsibilities of each. “The document says only that the FBI will handle information from the project ‘lawfully,’ while California must ‘comply with its state privacy laws,'” the site noted. “The FBI has said the program is bound by internal information security standards.”

Ready and willing

Southern California law enforcement agencies appeared eager to help spearhead the program, signing up again and again to participate. While California’s effort “was scheduled to run for one year and then be reassessed,” the site added, “it’s been renewed each year since 2013,” with Steve Fischer, Chief of Multimedia Productions at the FBI’s CJIS Division, estimating the so-called pilot program would “continue for 2 to 3 additional years.” 

Treatment of the undertaking as a pilot has made relative sense given its current scope and future aims. “The iris scan program, like the facial scans, is part of the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) database,” a system with “a broad purview including employment background checks and identifying unknown corpses as wall as use in criminal, terrorist, and intelligence investigations,” according to Yahoo Tech. Pushing to develop the technology out of “fears of another 9/11-style attack,” IB Times reported, “the FBI signed a $1 billion contract with military behemoth Lockheed Martin to develop and launch the unit.” Details haven’t emerged on how large of a database, or how many years of activity, might have been considered before expanding iris scans nationwide.

Drawing criticism

Predictably, California civil liberties advocates and activists have swiftly lined up against the scheme. “What we’re seeing is how counterterrorism and counterinsurgency tactics are being codified into everyday policing,”  Stop LAPD Spying founder Hamid Khan told the Times. “In essence, we’re all suspects.” Nicole Ozer, ACLU California’s policy director for technology and civil liberties, told the Verge it was “very troubling” that “these systems have gone forward without any public debate or oversight that we’ve been able to find[.]”

But in Southern California, where San Bernardino was left reeling in the face of one of the nation’s most shocking terror attacks, officials’ relationship with the FBI has grown close. Northern California heavyweight Apple fought the Bureau’s demand to unlock the cellphone belonging to the shooter, raising questions “over whether technology companies’ encryption technologies protect privacy or endanger the public by blocking law enforcement access to information,” the Washington Post recalled. By collecting iris scans on its own, federal law enforcement could help ensure that the information might later be construed as personal data protected by private companies.

Touching off another national controversy centered around California, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was discovered to have concealed video and audio monitoring devices around a courthouse in the San Francisco East Bay five to six years ago.

“Federal agents planted hidden microphones and conducted secret video surveillance at Alameda County’s Rene C. Davidson Courthouse for ten months, despite having no court warrant,” the East Bay Express noted. “The surveillance operation was part of an investigation into alleged bid rigging at foreclosed property auctions where thousands of houses and apartment buildings were sold by banks. But defense attorneys for some of the individuals accused say the FBI’s surveillance tactics violated their clients’ constitutional rights, and everyone else whose conversations might have been captured on tape.”

“The government’s unauthorized use of recording devices to capture private conversations at the Alameda and Contra Costa County courthouses violated defendants’ Fourth Amendment rights to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures,” according to lawyers representing powerful Oakland landlord Michael Marr, as the ABA Journal observed. “Private affairs are routinely discussed as citizens, their lawyers, and even judges walk to and from court, and lawyers often take clients aside outside the courthouse for privileged conversation.”

Making a stink

Marr’s lawyers have had an incentive to swing for the fences. The FBI raided their client’s offices in 2011, and he was indicted, along with 11 other regional investors, by a 2014 federal grand jury. “Dozens of investors in Northern California already pleaded guilty to organizing similar bid-rigging schemes at foreclosure auctions,” according to the Express. “But Marr and his associates insist they are innocent, that he’s a federal scapegoat instead of going after the banks.”

The blockbuster allegations threw into some question the wisdom behind the FBI’s determination to acquire through secretive means the kind of information they might have gathered more traditionally. “At one of the auction locations, in San Mateo, the FBI actually had cooperators who were willing to wear wires to record their conversations with other real estate investors,” Fusion reported. “But the FBI wanted even more evidence, so it decided to bug public areas at the three courts where auctions were taking place over a period ranging from 2009 to 2011.” 

“They placed recording devices in vehicles around the courthouses, in lights near the entrances, in a planter, in a sprinkler, in a bus stop near the courthouse, and in a “backpack placed next to a statue situated inside the Alameda County Courthouse,” according to a letter written by a prosecutor that detailed the recordings.”

Laws in tension

Remarkably, the FBI had set up the surveillance only after checking in with the County Sheriff, not securing the approval of a judge. Although Marr’s lawyers asked the court to consider that the FBI actually recorded public conversations feloniously — California being a so-called “two-party consent” state — state law has also imposed “a fairly broad ‘public area’ exception, which would cover courthouse steps and bus stops,” according to Techdirt. “But that interpretation of the state’s wiretap law exceptions may be subject to the government’s interpretation of public spaces from its 1967 Katz decision, which would grant hushed conversations in public an expectation of privacy.”

The Bureau has been on thin ice in California since pressuring Apple to unlock a cellphone involved in the San Bernardino terror case. “The FBI served Apple with a court order in February compelling the company to help break into an encrypted iPhone” used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, the San Francisco Chronicle recalled. “Apple resisted, and the FBI dropped the case last month after saying it bought a tool from a private entity it hasn’t identified to break into the phone. State and local law enforcement agencies say they have hundreds of encrypted iPhones that they could use the FBI’s help getting into.” 

The ongoing legal struggle between Apple and the Department of Justice shifted dramatically as federal officials dropped their effort to force the Cupertino tech giant to grant access to the iPhone used by Syed Farook, the terrorist who perpetrated the San Bernardino attacks.

Through means which have yet to be disclosed, DOJ gained access to the phone’s contents on its own, raising questions about its methods which may be revealed to Apple as the focus of litigation shifts away from Riverside, California, to New York.

Cracking the code

“F.B.I. investigators have begun examining the contents of the phone but would not say what, if anything, they have identified so far,” the New York Times reported. “The Justice Department also remained tight-lipped about how it was able to finally get into the smartphone after weeks of furious public debate.

“A second law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reporters in a conference call said that a company outside the government provided the F.B.I. with the means to get into the phone used by Mr. Farook, which is an iPhone 5C running Apple’s iOS 9 mobile operating system. The official would not name the company or discuss how it was accomplished, nor would officials say whether the process would ultimately be shared with Apple.”

But according to industry sources cited by NBC News, the Israeli firm Cellebrite was contracted to do the job. “The firm has been rumored to be behind the FBI’s newfound ability to access the device, thanks to a previous and unconfirmed report from an Israeli newspaper,” The Hill noted. Though Cellebrite and the Department of Justice have not confirmed the rumors or the reports linking the two, Bureau officials have “routinely contracted Cellebrite over the last five years,” The Hill added. “The company, which publicly boasts of its ability to hack into Apple devices, has received over $2 million in purchase orders from the agency since 2012.”

Another shoe to drop

Nevertheless, the details of the government’s behind-the-scenes efforts could soon come to light. “Apple is in the middle of a separate case in Brooklyn, New York, in which the Justice Department wants the company to unlock an iPhone used by an alleged drug dealer. So far, Apple has resisted,” as CNET observed. But if federal officials press forward with litigation, “both sides would have to exchange information and evidence. That’s when Apple could demand that the DOJ explain how it hacked Farook’s iPhone[.]”

According to Reuters, a federal magistrate ruled last month in the Brooklyn case “that he did not have authority to order Apple to disable the security of an iPhone seized during a drug investigation. The Justice Department then appealed to a district court judge.”

“After filing that appeal, U.S. prosecutors notified the magistrate in the San Bernardino case that a third party had demonstrated a new technique which could access the iPhone in question. The Justice Department disclosed the new technique to the judge one day after the demonstration, and then confirmed its success on Monday, according to court filings, though it did not reveal how its solution works.”

Notably, the means whereby the Department of Justice might access the contents of the alleged drug dealer’s cellphone could well differ from those used on Farook’s phone. That’s because “the Brooklyn phone runs an older version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 7, than the phone in San Bernardino, which ran iOS 9,” as Quartz pointed out. “As such, it’s likely that the Brooklyn phone is easier to access. For example, hacking tools can be bought on eBay to unlock some phones running iOS 8 or earlier.”

Edward Snowden recently made headlines by claiming that the FBI lied about needing Apple’s help at the beginning of the controversy because of a relatively easy-to-implement passcode workaround.

Scores of companies threw their weight behind Apple’s effort in court to block the FBI’s bid to unlock the phone. “Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and a parade of other technology companies filed a barrage of court briefs […] aiming to puncture the United States government’s legal arguments against Apple in a case that will test the limits of the authorities’ access to personal data,” CNBC reported. “The extraordinary show of support for Apple from the tech companies, including many rivals, underscores how high the stakes are for the industry with the case, in which the authorities are demanding Apple’s help” to break into the phone.

Federal fury

The Justice Department fought back with a searing brief, saying “Apple should be compelled to help the F.B.I. break into the iPhone and that the company should not be allowed to hide behind what prosecutors said were diversionary tactics in the court of public opinion,” according to the New York Times.

“The fight has been brewing since mid-February, when Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym of the Federal District Court for the Central District of California ordered Apple to create and deploy an alternative operating system that would help law enforcement agents break into the iPhone in the San Bernardino case. Apple publicly opposed the order, igniting a standoff with the F.B.I. and the Justice Department.”

Underscoring the government’s view of the importance of the case, President Obama himself made a point to remark publicly on the controversy, insisting — if obliquely — that national security was imperiled by the precedent Apple would set. “Speaking at the South by Southwest festival in Texas, the president said he could not comment on the legal case in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation is trying to force Apple to allow access to an iPhone linked to San Bernardino shooter Rizwan Farook. But he made clear that despite his commitment to Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, a balance was needed to allow some government intrusion if necessary,” IT News noted.

A tipping point

But not all in government have agreed. Also in Austin, countering the president’s position, was Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Ca., a former tech titan in his own right who chaired the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee until last year. Issa told USA Today the FBI’s decision to push the limits on privacy protections was “a bad decision,” although he credited FBI Director James Comey with making an “honest and forthright” effort to convince Congress of the merits of the Bureau’s case. “The repercussions of creating a digital ‘backdoor’ to the iPhone not only weakens technology, but endangers the civil liberties of individuals, emboldens prosecutors to pursue thousands of similar cases and compromises corporations like Apple overseas, where privacy laws are stricter,” Issa and his allies have cautioned, the paper added.

On the other hand, foreign countries sizing up the U.S. debate have already seen the introduction of proposed measures that would grant their governments sweeping, invasive new authority. “Intelligence agencies and the police could get powers which would allow them to hack into phones under proposed new laws which would force firms to install deliberate security flaws,” the Daily Mail wrote of a new British scheme. “Under the plans, which are currently being considered by Parliament, internet service providers and technology giants like Apple would have to build secret security flaws into mobile phones, tablets and computers which would allow officials to access the devices. The so-called ‘backdoor technology’ would allow police and security agencies to hack into the devices whenever they wished.”

Critics have charged that Apple is more interested in a marketing coup than in customers’ privacy rights. But recent polling revealed that about half of Americans surveyed “support Apple’s decision to resist the government’s demand to unlock the iPhone,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported. “Meanwhile, public trust in government has remained at some of its lowest points in recent history.”

Yee was not the initial target of what has been described as a “massive sting operation” launched by the Justice Department centering on Bay Area politics. Instead, he was only ensnared in a bribery probe involving a fake, FBI-created software firm seeking government contracts, which led to the discovery of his other crimes.

Meanwhile, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon is building off the FBI’s probe with his own prosecutions. In late January, he announced that two former employees with the city’s Human Rights Commission had been arrested for allegedly trying to sell access to Mayor Ed Lee. Nazly Mohajer, a former agency commissioner, and Zula Jones, a former staffer, allegedly took $20,000 from an undercover agent.

Although he met with the undercover agent, Mayor Lee has strenuously denied any role in the alleged bribery and money-laundering. But the fact that Mohajer and Jones were taped discussing how to break the money into smaller amounts to surreptitiously pay off Lee’s 2011 campaign debts has added to the loud whispering campaign that suggests the San Francisco mayor may be the FBI’s — and/or Gascon’s — ultimate target.

The FBI’s initial target was Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, a leader of a San Francisco-based gang that had ties to Chinese business groups and politicians, including Lee. Chow was convicted in January on federal racketeering charges after his defense — claiming to be a reformed ex-criminal turned humanitarian and businessman — fell short.

It is not clear what sort of arrangement that the FBI and Gascon have — whether certain crimes will be prosecuted by the Justice Department and others by the San Francisco DA. But the most intense focus of the past month has been on Gascon’s attempts to keep a file of evidence related to the charges announced in January from being disclosed. He has so far persuaded a federal judge to keep it under wraps, arguing that its disclosure would reveal undercover agents and ruin promising corruption investigations.

“The evidence is a time bomb waiting to explode,” declared city Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who speculated that Lee or a member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors might be implicated.

Lee appears to think he’s the target, or a target, of the investigations. According to campaign records, he spent $19,000 of his political funds last year on criminal defense attorneys. This year, he’s used allies to depict Gascon as launching a politically motivated smear effort.

Democratic strategist Nathan Ballard described Gascon as a craven publicity hound in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times.

“If the DA has the goods on Mayor Lee, he already would have come out with it. There has never been one credibly sourced allegation of pay-to-play being brought forward,” Ballard told the Times.

But Gascon is winning plaudits from San Francisco’s alternative media, which has long seen the city as a hotbed of corruption and phony progressives.

The SF Weekly recently praised the Cuban-American DA for blasting Police Chief Greg Suhr — and Mayor Lee — for allegedly blocking attempts to reduce misconduct within San Francisco police ranks. The department has drawn sharp criticism since the Dec. 2 shooting death of stabbing suspect Mario Woods.

Though police had credible reason to believe Woods was armed and dangerous, cellphone video of him being shot as he walked away from officers has generated raucous protests.

Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab — Facebook

Two Iraqi refugees, one in California, have been arrested on joint terrorism-related charges.

“From his pictures on Facebook, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab looks like any other millennial with a wardrobe of Nike sneakers, Ray-Ban sunglasses and flannel shirts. But federal officials say the 23-year-old was living a double life — one as a refugee starting a new life in America and another as a young man anxious to return to the Middle East to fight in the Syrian Civil War,” the Daily Mail reported. “The Iraqi-born Palestinian man was arrested Thursday in Sacramento, California on charges he was plotting to travel to Syria to join the al-Nusra Front terrorist organization.”

Under the radar

As the New York Times reported, Jayab’s alleged partner in the scheme, 24-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, “was arrested in Houston and charged with three counts of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, according to a statement from the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.”

“Prosecutors said that Mr. Jayab entered the United States from Syria as a refugee in October 2012, living in Arizona and Wisconsin before settling in Sacramento. Mr. Hardan, who lives in Houston, entered the United States as a refugee in 2009 and was granted legal permanent residence status in 2011, according to law enforcement.”

“Prosecutors allege Al Hardan was coordinating efforts with another Iraqi refugee living in California, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab,” the Associated Press reported. “The two men communicated through Facebook messenger from April 2013 to October 2014 and talked about getting weapons training and eventually sneaking into Syria to fight alongside the terrorist group,” according to prosecution witness Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Herman Wittliff.

In custody

While Al Hardan’s family has been evicted from their apartment, “Al-Jayab remains jailed in Sacramento, California,” the AP added. “Authorities say Al-Jayab fought twice in Syria, including with a group later affiliated with the Islamic State between November 2013 and January 2014.”

Hardan was denied bond by U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes. Based on details relayed by Wittliff, he ruled “there would be a serious risk that the Iraqi refugee would flee if released from federal custody,” reported Fox News. According to the channel, Wittliff “said that in addition to Al Hardan wanting to set off bombs at the two Houston malls, including the popular Galleria mall, the Iraqi man was also learning how to make electronic transmitters that could be used to detonate improvised explosive devices. Al Hardan wanted used cellphones — a collection of which were found in his apartment — to detonate the devices, Wittliff said.”

Fueling national fears

The arrests have fueled election-year concern, especially among Republicans, that U.S. screening processes have not been adequately tightened amid the rise of ISIS and the recent waves of Mideast migration it has caused. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a consistent critic of President Obama’s border and security policies, took the opportunity to press home the point. “I once again urge the president to halt the resettlement of these refugees in the United States until there is an effective vetting process that will ensure refugees do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans,” he said, according to the Daily Mail.

And Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, currently pushing a bill that would mandate additional procedures, tied Hardan and Jayab to the broader security situation in a statement. “While I commend the FBI for their hard work, these arrests heighten my concern that our refugee program is susceptible to exploitation by terrorists. The president has assured us that individuals from Iraq and Syria receive close scrutiny, but it is clearly not enough,” he concluded, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

“McCaul introduced the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act last year, which calls for Federal Bureau of Investigation background checks in addition to initial Homeland Security screenings for all ‘covered aliens,’ or refugees with ties to Iraq or Syria. The bill passed 289 to 137 in the House in November.”

The Fresno Bee has key details:

The Fresno Unified School District is asking the California Supreme Court to reverse a recent appellate court opinion criticizing its use of a no-bid contract, saying it could negatively impact hundreds of school districts and contractors across the state.

 

Fresno Unified attorneys said in the petition, filed earlier this week, that a 5th District Court of Appeal opinion released last month concerning a leaseback contract with Harris Construction has far-reaching consequences for the way school districts handle building projects.

 

“The Court of Appeal’s opinion and the issues presented by this petition impact hundreds of school districts and contractors who have participated, either currently or in the past, in hundreds of millions of dollars of lease-leaseback contracts on thousands of projects throughout the state,” the petition says. “The lease-leaseback arrangement between FUSD and Harris was structured exactly the same way as other school districts throughout California have structured their lease-leasebacks for years.”

 

Leaseback agreements were designed to allow cash-strapped districts to build schools by going outside of the traditional competitive bidding process and handpicking consultants who will front the cost of a project and then be repaid by the district in increments over time.

 

Contractor Stephen Davis took Fresno Unified to court, alleging that its contract with Harris Construction to build the $37 million Rutherford B. Gaston Middle School was not a true leaseback because the district had the money to pay for the project upfront. Davis also alleges the district broke state conflict-of-interest laws by allowing Harris Construction to provide pre-consulting services for a project it was ultimately awarded.

Trustee says FBI probing; superintendent surprised

Meanwhile, per the Bee, a Fresno Unified trustee says federal law enforcement as well as California appellate judges appears to have concerns about the Gaston deal.

“SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s $68 billion bullet train project should be exempt from the state’s strict environmental review process now that it is subject to federal oversight, the state attorney general’s office argued Tuesday in a state appellate court. …

“If the judges agree the project is no longer subject to the California Environmental Quality Act, the state rail authority would be freed from a host of regulatory and procedural requirements that could slow construction. Opponents of the project would also lose one of their most significant legal tools. …

“Attorneys who argued against the state Tuesday characterized it as another legal ploy by the state in the disputed project for which voters approved selling nearly $10 billion in bonds in 2008.

“‘It’s clear that the voters were told that CEQA would apply,’ attorney Stuart Flashman told the judges. He also noted that the state Legislature, which approved selling bonds for the project, discussed the idea of exempting high-speed rail from CEQA several times but never did so.”

CEQA a guiding document for crucial initial plans

Not only were Californians assured that CEQA would apply before they approved Prop. 1A in 2008, environmental compliance was a central selling point. A Nov. 15, 2007, press release illustrates this:

“Authority staff presented recommendations for the route connecting Central Valley with the Bay Area — the final component to solidifying the statewide high-speed train route. … In accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the staff recommends the Pacheco Pass as the alignment that will attract the greatest number of riders with the least environmental impact … .

“The draft program EIR/EIS was made available to the public in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) … .”

One more insulting detail for the rail authority to ignore.

One more reminder of how this is, or should be, such an abject embarrassment for Jerry Brown.

One more file for the Grand Canyon-sized cabinet of examples of how the public sector routinely behaves in dishonest, irresponsible ways that would lead to SEC, FBI, NYT and LAT crusades if they happened in the private sector.

Here are the Top 10 Quotes allegedly made by Yee and others, as quoted verbatim from the FBI’s 137-page criminal complaint. Some references are to his campaign, which he just quit, to be California’s secretary of state, which oversees all state elections.

10. Think Globally, Arms Deal Locally

Yee, allegedly on his expanding weapons trafficking business: “Because, I’m getting a little more into this, it’s not just Russia; the Muslim countries have sources too. And so, that has been brought to my attention recently.”

Yee: “I want to protect the entire enterprise.”

9. Chinatown Gangster: San Francisco politicians are dirty

Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow was previously convicted and jailed on other charges. In the new indictment, he allegedly told an undercover agent that, while San Francisco may look clean, the city was dirtier because of public corruption. Chow disapproved of San Francisco politicians.

Shrimp Boy: “If I’m into the game, I would step on them, I would nail those guys … all the people, they play the little dirty s— around me… Oh, I’m dirty too, you know, but I’m not dirty to my people.”

8. The Allure of Secretary of State?

Yee: “I’m just trying to run for secretary of state. I hope I don’t get indicted.”

7. Life imitates ‘The Wire’

The catch-phrase of “The Wire” TV show’s Clay Davis appears frequently in the indictment.

Yee: “$15k man, s—. For what we did man? S—. You know, we got him close to [State Senator 1].”

Yee: “There’s got to be some trust around here man, s—”

Yee: “S—, as much as I want that five thousand, I can’t do that man. S—. F—. S—.”

Yee: “S—. That’ s pay to play and you can’t do that. You cannot connect. You could go to jail for that . … They got to understand, it’ s about the long term. It ‘s not about the short term.”

Yee: On his possible election as mayor of San Francisco: “We control 6.8 billion, man. S—.” The number was the approximate size of the city’s budget at the time.

6. Psychoanalyze this: Because I’m unhappy as a child psychologist

When an undercover agent allegedly told Yee, a child psychologist, that Yee lived a great life, Yee allegedly responded that he was unhappy and thought about hiding out in the Philippines.

Yee: “There’s a part of me that wants to be like you. You know how I’m going to be like you? Just be a free agent there.”

5. It’s a marathon, not a sprint

Keith Jackson (not the sports announcer), the political operative who also was indicted, allegedly on the relationship: “You know, he just, he sees this as a long-term relationship and he don’t, he don’t you know, he don’t want to f— things up.”

4. Liberal SF Democrat driven by money

Allegedly Yee, who thought Africa was a largely untapped market for trade, was eager to get the goods and make money.

Yee: “Do I think we can make some money? I think we can make some money. Do I think we can get the goods? I think we can get the goods.”

3. Pillow talk for Capitol fundraisers

Yee: “Just give me the g—– money, man s— … you should just tell them, write some f—ing checks, man.”

2. Playing Mortal Kombat in the Philippines

Yee authored California’s ban on the sale of violent video games to children that the Supreme Court found unconstitutional. In the indictment, he allegedly said he was “agnostic” to working with a Muslim rebel group, which he knew to be responsible for “kidnapping individuals, killing individuals and extorting them for ransom.”

Yee: “People want to get whatever they want to get. Do I care? No, I don’t care.”

1. Which is better: 10 months or 8 years?

Yee: “I can be of help to you for 10 months or I can be of help to you for eight years. I think eight years is a lot better than 10 months.”

He wasn’t talking about time in federal prison.