SFGate.com: Ex-Sen. Leland Yee may be headed for a plea deal

Bob Egelko for SFGate.com reports:

Former state Sen. Leland Yee, who until now has denied charges of political corruption, money laundering and racketeering, is scheduled to change his plea in federal court Wednesday.

A federal judge has calendared change-of-plea hearings for Yee and three co-defendants who had been scheduled to go to trial Aug. 10. Such hearings are held to enable criminal defendants to plead guilty, usually after negotiations with the prosecutor.

…Yee, D-San Francisco, was arrested March 26, 2014, and initially was charged with accepting $62,000 in bribes from FBI agents posing as contributors in exchange for legislative favors. The favors included voting for several bills, setting up a meeting for an agent who posed as a medical marijuana supplier and agreeing to illegally import firearms from the Philippines….

Another federal grand jury indictment in January added money-laundering charges, alleging that Yee and Keith Jackson had tried to conceal the source of bribes the senator allegedly received for arranging a meeting between a purported donor and another lawmaker, and for smuggling guns. They were accused of accepting $11,000 from an undercover agent in June 2013 to set up the meeting, and of trying to cover their tracks by soliciting $12,600 in campaign contributions from three unidentified donors and paying them back in cash. They were also charged with accepting $6,800 from another agent in March 2014 as part of the gun-running agreement.

Read the full story at SFGate.com.