Breed details Nuru relationship, $5K gift

According to Breed, she wrote the post to be transparent with the public and to dispel any rumors about their close relationship.

“Mohammed Nuru and I have been close personal friends for more than 20 years. We dated for a brief time, two decades ago, long before I ever ran for office,” she said.

Breed said when she learned that federal prosecutors had charged Nuru with services wire fraud, as well as lying to the FBI, she felt, “shock, sadness, disappointment and anger.”

“To be clear: I have never asked Mohammed Nuru to do anything improper, and he never asked me to do anything improper. I was not aware of the schemes alleged by the FBI until shortly before they became public, and when I was informed, I immediately reported the information to our city attorney,” she said.

Breed also revealed that last year, she received gifts from Nuru, worth about $5,600, which she said would be listed in her annual “Statement of Economic Interests,” due on April 1.

The gifts stem from when Nuru, acting as her friend, helped her fix her 18-year-old car last year, and when the car still didn’t work properly, he helped her secure a rental car.

She said because Nuru was a personal friend, the gifts are not required to be reported under the California Fair Political Practice Commission’s rules.

“But since I have not yet been able to sell the car — and given all that has now happened — I have chosen to make this voluntary disclosure,” she said. “I realize that my close friendship to someone accused of something so serious will undoubtedly affect my life, and maybe even my life’s work.

“It is part of the reason this hurts so much,” she said. “I will not apologize for dating someone two decades ago. I will not apologize for remaining close friends with him and his family. But neither will I make excuses for his misdeeds.”

She added, “I have no doubt that some will seek to exploit what I have shared here, to harm me politically. I, and others, may be weighed down from guilt by association as a result of this episode.”

Breed said for now, she’s focusing on the independent investigation she called for by the City Attorney and the Controller’s Office, as they look into city contracts with Public Works or any other city departments possibly involved in the alleged schemes described by federal prosecutors.

Prosecutors allege Nuru, along with Lefty O’Doul’s restaurant owner Nick Bovis, of San Mateo, attempted to bribe a San Francisco International Airport commissioner for help to obtain a restaurant concession.

Although Nuru and Bovis have both been charged for that alleged scheme, prosecutors also allege Nuru engaged in four more corrupt schemes in 2018 and 2019 and that Bovis participated in two of them. However, those alleged schemes never came to fruition.

On Monday, Nuru announced his resignation as Public Work Director. Acting Director Alaric Degrafinried has already been appointed to take his place at the department.