Santos sentenced to 30 months in prison for fraud and bribery
SAN FRANCISCO (August 25, 2023) — City Attorney David Chiu released the following statement today after a federal judge sentenced engineer and permit expeditor Rodrigo Santos to 30 months of incarceration after he pled guilty to bribery and fraud:
“Today, the Court brought justice to the many people and businesses Rodrigo Santos harmed. This accountability would not be possible without the hard work of attorneys and investigators in our City Attorney’s Office, who spent years uncovering Santos’ misdeeds. He defrauded his clients, bribed government officials, and lied on permit applications. The unauthorized excavations Santos performed created safety hazards, putting his clients and their neighbors at risk. Santos profited significantly off of all of this illegal conduct. Now that the criminal case is resolved, our civil case against Mr. Santos will continue in earnest to ensure he is held fully accountable for his illegal conduct.”
The City Attorney’s Office filed a civil lawsuit against Santos, alleging that he defrauded and stole money from his clients, completed unpermitted work, illegally excavated under neighboring properties, and forged signatures and misappropriated licenses. The civil case is City and County of San Francisco, et al. v. Santos & Urrutia Associates, Inc., et al., San Francisco Superior Court, Case No. CGC 18-569923.
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