Paul Fredrick Giusti, Conspiracy to Bribe a Local Official, California 2020

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Waste Management Exec Pleads Guilty to Corruption

Paul Fredrick Giusti, the former Group Government & Community Relations Manager for the San Francisco group of a waste management company, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and cooperate with federal investigators in the corruption investigation into San Francisco City Hall.

Giusti, 65, of San Francisco, was charged in an information filed yesterday with one count of conspiracy to bribe a local official and commit honest services fraud. He was originally charged in a federal criminal complaint filed on November 18, 2020.

According to the information, Giusti allegedly conspired with others to direct a stream of payments and benefits from the waste management company to Mohammed Nuru, then San Francisco’s Director of the Department of Public Works (DPW), between 2014 and January 2020. The payments and benefits included gifts, services, financial contributions to organizations, and other things of value, totaling over $1 million.

The payments and benefits allegedly made by Giusti included: payments of approximately $150,000 per year to a San Francisco non-profit organization, knowing that Nuru ultimately controlled this money; $60,000 from 2016 to 2019 to fund the annual DPW holiday party; a job provided to Nuru’s son at the waste management company’s subsidiary; and internships funded by the waste management company for Nuru’s son in the summer of 2017 and summer of 2018.

Giusti has agreed to cooperate with federal investigators in the ongoing federal investigation. According to a court filing, “Mr. Giusti has signed a cooperation plea agreement in which he has agreed to plead guilty and testify, provide documents, and otherwise assist in the government’s investigation.”

Giusti was arraigned today on the information in federal magistrate court before United States Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse. He is currently scheduled to make his initial appearance on August 9, 2021, before United States District Judge Chhabria in San Francisco, however, a notice of related case has been filed, the ultimate result of which may be a change in time and place of the hearing. Giusti remains out of custody on bond.

The charges contained in the information are mere allegations. As in any criminal case, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.