"Prosecutors allege that he accepted a range of gifts from Super Bowl tickets and a $350 pen, to helicopter trips in the Himalayas and first-class plane tickets to Dubai and in exchange redirected lucrative district construction contracts to the firms of his friends. The defense maintains that Galatolo reciprocated the gifts he received from friends many of which fell under exceptions to the reporting rules and that he had no role in giving the contracts to his friend's firms."
"Joseph Cannon, deputy district attorney for San Mateo County, emphasized to the jury that the former chancellor's actions established a pattern of fraud that was conducted for his benefit and violated the expectation that public officials be truthful in their statements. 'It's good to be king' that's the defendant's catch phrase, Cannon said. This is a case about private corruption, public corruption, public integrity. We hold public officials to a high stand"
Jury deliberations are underway over 27 charges against former San Mateo Community College chancellor Ronald Galatolo, including embezzlement, tax code violations, conflict of interest, perjury and misuse of public funds. Prosecutors allege a pattern of purposeful fraud in both his public and private life, claiming he accepted gifts ranging from Super Bowl tickets and a $350 pen to Himalayan helicopter trips and first-class flights to Dubai, and redirected district construction contracts to friends' firms. The defense contends gifts were reciprocated, often qualified for reporting exceptions, and that Galatolo did not award contracts to friends. A grand jury indicted him in 2024; the trial began in October under Judge Leland Davis III, closing arguments have finished and jurors are deliberating.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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