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Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Mexican Billionaire Tried to Buy U.S. Election

Published from Los Angeles Times and The Voice of San Diego

A wealthy Mexican businessman accused of making illegal campaign donations to candidates in San Diego’s 2012 mayoral race was convicted Friday of 36 counts, including conspiracy to make campaign donations by a foreign national.

Jose Susumo Azano Matsura also was found guilty in federal court of making contributions in other people’s names and falsifying records related to campaign finance.


José Susumo Azano Matsura leaves federal court in San Diego on Aug. 21, 2014. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)

The jury, which deliberated about a week, was unable to reach a unanimous decision on whether Azano unlawfully possessed a firearm, as well as several other charges related to the other defendants in the high-profile case.
U.S. District Judge Michael Anello declared a mistrial on those counts.
Federal prosecutors had also charged campaign services specialist Ravneet Singh, lobbyist Marco Polo Cortes and Azano’s son Edward with the same charges of conspiracy and falsifying records.



One night in a Las Vegas club, TMZ caught Azano and his son popping the cork on a $90,000 bottle of Armand de Brignac “Ace of Spades” champagne. Pictures from the evening show Azano, dressed in black, draping his arm around rapper Jermaine Dupri, sharing a laugh.

Singh was found guilty of all four counts with which he had been charged.

Edward Azano Hester was convicted of conspiracy and donations by a foreign national, but the jury acquitted him of six counts related to falsifying records and deadlocked on five others.
Cortes was acquitted of four counts related to falsifying records. The jury did not reach verdicts on other charges, including conspiracy.
The case focused on more than $500,000 of Azano’s money that was funneled into the campaigns of Republican Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis and Democratic Rep. Bob Filner when both were running for San Diego mayor in 2012. Filner won the race but resigned several months later amid a sexual harassment scandal.
Azano’s money also went to the county Democratic Party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, prosecutors alleged.
As a foreign citizen without legal status in the U.S., Azano was prohibited by law from donating to domestic campaigns. Although he lived in a Coronado Cays mansion and both his wife and son are U.S. citizens, prosecutors said Azano did not have a green card or any immigration status that would allow him to financially support political campaigns in this country.
A view of one of José Susumo Azano Matsura's Coronado homes. Photo by Sam Hodgson
The evidence included numerous bank records, emails and billing invoices that prosecutors said showed the route the money took from Azano bank accounts. The money made it into the campaigns via straw donors — friends or family members who made donations to the Dumanis and Filner campaigns and were reimbursed by Azano, sometimes on the same day.
Prosecutors said Azano secretly paid Singh’s company, which specialized in political social media campaigns, to work for Dumanis and later Filner. The largest contributions went to PACs or independent committees, via a shell corporation owned by Azano, and through businesses owned by La Jolla luxury car dealer Marc Chase.
Marc Chase, owner of Symbolic Motor Car Co., has been tied to federal investigation alleging illegal contributions to local political campaigns. (/ U-T file photo)
Chase testified that Azano asked him to make the donations during a meeting in the business tycoon’s Coronado kitchen. He said Azano reimbursed him for the contributions. Azano, a car buff, had purchased more than 20 luxury vehicles, including Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces, from Chase, who pleaded guilty earlier in the case and agreed to testify against Azano.
Another key conduit was retired San Diego police Det. Ernie Encinas, who was Azano’s security chief. Prosecutors said he was the go-between who got Azano and his money to the campaigns and political professionals.
Retired San Diego police detective Ernesto Encinas is the head of security for Mexican national Jose Sasumo
Encinas agreed to cooperate during the investigation and pleaded guilty after Azano was arrested in January 2014. Though he was expected to be a star witness, the former police officer was never called to testify — either by the government or the defense.
But the trial did have several high-profile witnesses, including Dumanis and Sheriff Bill Gore. Dumanis testified that she had little memory of her interactions with Azano, other than that she believed he was a legal resident and allowed to contribute to her campaign.  
Azano’s lawyer, Michael Wynne, argued that his client was targeted and victimized by Encinas and Chase, who used his money to elevate their own statuses and businesses, then turned on their benefactor to aid the government investigation.
Wynne said after the verdicts that he and his client would continue the fight the case, even all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.
“I am absolutely confident that we will win on appeal,” he said outside the courthouse.
The judge set sentencing hearings for Azano, Singh and Cortes for Dec. 12. Azano’s son will be sentenced on Dec. 5.
Meanwhile the judge has allowed the elder Azano to remain free until the sentencing date. Prosecutors had asked for him to be placed in custody in light of the verdicts, arguing that he is a flight risk.

49 comments:

  1. Silly story. So what if h eee wants to donate his money. And they say illegal Mexicans don't help out society lmao

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    Replies
    1. Must have more than one identity, he couldn't choose some better name other than "jose sasumo matsura" in some place where there is a jose in every corner. Fcking yakuza fatso. LOL

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    2. It matters 2:04. Hope he isn't allowed back into the country.

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  2. Isn't this Azano the guy who owns Maruchan?

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  3. Susumo Azano Matsura's names don't look chinese, and everybody is always blaming the chinese here.
    Time to remember that the Yakuza brung in Korean master religious narco-propagandista brain washer Sun Myung Moon hero of the politicians of the 80's, founder of the Fawx News style of journalism and owner of the Washington Times who discovered Jesus had been reborn "in the body of a Korean preacher" wuuuh!
    --What is the business of José anyways?
    I can't scrap and put two quarters of a dollar together.
    --Please, keep mexicans out of police work or give them life for corruption...

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    Replies
    1. He's Japanese, look up his papa

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    2. yakuza = japanese, not chinese

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    3. 4:56 Who said it sounded Chinese to begin with?

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    4. 8:24 That is pure bullshit ! I have seen greedy people with money , IQ test in the high 60's . Then I have seen intelligent good hearted people that just get by with genus
      IQ . Greed can achieve money without any smarts . Ive seen dumb fucks get millions taken away by the government because the greedy bastards were to dumb to know how to hide it .

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    5. Damn, I suppose I will be broke for the rest of my life,
      Because I AM A GENIUS!
      Canadiana, what your mom said about that basement of hers?
      Unless you wanna live in a tiny camper...

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  4. I sometimes wonder why some people have more money than brains. A some of us who think we have more brains than money can barely make ends meet.

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    Replies
    1. @502pm...if you are poor is because your dumb. Simple. It takes brains to make money. You think your smart. money is the measuring stick to how smart you are....you poverty equals being a dummy. richEs means your smart...el hombre crea el dinero no el dinero al hombre..something to think about.

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    2. He thought his money was stronger than the law because he's used to it in MEX

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    3. this is the most realist comment I've ever read here on BLB

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    4. 5:02 I don't have money or brains. I'm like a plant.

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    5. 8:24 what u just said is bullshit. Chapo is rich. But 1 of his kids was murdered. So if he is rich and smart then y couldn' t all his smartness and money save his son? Because he's a fucking idiot. Only fools idolize their money.

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    6. 807am...we are talking about why are people poor...if you dumb you poor..not that money is the ultimate solution which at times is...anyways.answer me this what came first the egg or the chicken??I'm curious to see your thinking logic..

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    7. It takes more than one thing to make money, monkeys with balls and lots of ambition for example can still make money but that doesn't mean they are the brightest ones out there. But sometimes they believe they are the stinky shet because they got that monopoly money. Which sometimes they get by doing illegal things, any selfish dog can do that. LOL ...

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    8. 8:24 being a bald faced ratero just because others enable you and carry you to the big money because it is good for them and they chose you because you are one big pendejo makes no one smart, it just makes you one pendejo corrupto...
      --Real men make their own money somehow, they do not steal it all from a corrupted government position

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  5. When did Chinese start arriving in Mexico? Have they always been?

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    Replies
    1. This guy is not chinese. But the chinese built the railroads in the 1800's. Many in Mexicali.

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    2. 7:42-That's interesting.They also built the railroads in Canada too.Did they also in the US?

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  6. I dont understand why he is illegal here being billionaire when they will give you the green card with just having 2 million invested

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    Replies
    1. Secret political donations and other dirty deeds make susumo corrupt and fit for prosecution, not the status of his green card...

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  7. Poppin a $90k bottle. Can I keep just the bottle?

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  8. Google is your friend. Azano is of Japanese descent born and raised in Mexico. He is the heir to his father's empire and has had dealings with the Mexican Government thru his surveillance business and contracts he's made.

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  9. He sounds like he's Japanese with those names but article didn't say what business made him a billionaire or at least the legal 1.Sounds like he might have been a retiree or wanted a safe place away from the extortions and kidnappings that he would be at risk in Mexico.

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  10. And Killary took hundreds of millions in foreign $$$ and sold gvt access and no charges!
    I guess that is why she is a heroine to Mexicans!

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  11. American current account deficit 50 billion $$$ a month!
    China current account surplus 50 billion $$$ a month! A 600 billion $$ transfer of wealth every year!
    IQ level dropping in America while being flooded with drugs and crime!
    The Punisher just announced closer ties to China and Russia and will buy their weapons and not Americas! and by the way get your troops out of the Philippines!
    America a failing state!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 7:57 "You people"?
      "Mexicans killing mexicans?
      Like, how many of them?
      Looki here pendejo, the mexican government the US selected, helped get elected, supports with billions of dollars and weapons, and computer trickery confessed to by colombian hacks, and store prepaid cards that had no funds, does not represent the "mexicans" you are talking about like a pendejo.
      --Read once in a while: Voces del Periodista, or El Periodista, where they talk about mexico and its problems, and the reason of those problems, with authority and real information by real periodistas, y no sea güey, mi güey...

      Delete
  12. What was the reason for this guy - who probably is not totally dumb - to take this kind of risk?
    Something big must have been on stake for him, but what?
    For somebody popping $90.000 bottles the campaign contribution of $500.000 is a small change investment with the expectation of a very large payback, but what?
    Also Singh - who knows the campaign business and the law around it - must have been lured by very big money to take this kind of risk.

    The question is what is lurking beneath the surface here that motivated this crime of greed?

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    Replies
    1. he wanted to make san diego like a las vegas

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    2. Just imagine the amounts of dollars org.crime launder through all those casinos in las vegas...

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  13. The son should have been arrested and convicted for wearing the ugliest pants ever made. Not even Chapo, who inspired others to wear shirts, just as horrid, would have worn those pants.

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    Replies
    1. 1:50 Soli, i'd like to see your fashion catalog for mexican capos mafiosos, but the worst thing about jose's son is his "big smile", jose is trying to practice Michael Corlione's teachings.

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  14. Trafficking drugs helps put some venture money together, even 60 or 90 kilos of mariguana help, the right compadres, legal brick bats, atomic bombs, susumo is real famous around the Voice of Dan Diego, and is a contractor for the Mexican Defense Department with contracts worth "millions and millions of dollars"...
    Nice job on corrupt crooks by Japanese Wachiro, we need like ten every day.

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  15. Who else had bought a 90K bottle?? A Pacifico 40oz. Is only 5 bucks n it'll have the same affect if you drink plenty.

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    Replies
    1. You seriously think the purchase had anything to do with the alcohol itself? Seriously?

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  16. I'm sure he's planning on escaping to a mexico in his mansion in DF

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  17. Dumb ass detective. Been reading borderlandbeat for a while, Never been this happy. Lead gang Det Encinas back in 2001 created a case on me for something I didn't do when young. I did the time for not being a snitch and he knew it was not me. Karma caught up to his bitch ass.
    Portense bien por que todo se regresa!!
    -E

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    Replies
    1. Wise words of a pendejo, javier duarte de ochoa threatening reports in veracruz..."portense bien"...
      You did your time because you chose not to "snitch", don't blame "law enforcement corrupt encinas"
      Those that "do not snitch" are as free to chose as any other pendejo, unless you swore your Omerta and your outfit got your revenge for you...

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    2. I feel you 3:50
      To hell with ALL crooked ass cops! Rest in piss!!!
      Much respect to the real cops that have morals and protect and serve their communities

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    3. 7:06
      What does duarte have to do? He is not the only one that uses that phrase. You must be a pendejo yourself. The point here is that Encinas is a piece of shit. He knew what he was doing and proceeded to do what's wrong. Using young minority to rank up on the sdpd. Encinas was old enough, I was a juvenile at the time. My mistake was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Police have to do their job, not us. I have morals, unlike encinas. He profited from the azano guy and he decides to fuck him over at last?? 7:06 You must be corrupt of some kind of law enforcement to defend this piece of shit..I know for a fact lots of em here lurking. Props to 3:50, respect to honest law enforcement protecting our familys!

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    4. 11:56 your "juvenile morals" that were so important, landed your juvenile ass in prison. Don't blame officer Encinas who might still be prosecuted.

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    5. 11:56
      At least I'm out, been out for a long time and ENJOYING life to the fullest :)Yeah, it landed me in prison, but guess what?? I don't fear for my life, my conciencie is very clean and free of any bad repercussions. Unlike Encinas. Going to be a rough road ahead. Wouldn't like to be in his shoes. Surrounded by all those criminals he put in there.
      Hope you learn from your friend Mr Detective ;)

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  18. @4:50
    "Isn't this Azano the guy who owns Maruchan?"

    If this is true it makes sense to me, a couple years back I was on the east side of TJ about 4 miles from the airport, I saw this warehouse packed full of that crappy commissary noodles. I knew something was not right, About two years ago it was empty. Always new that company was shady. BTW Maruchan sucks.

    ReplyDelete

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