San Jose candidate worked for controversial Chinese developer

A leading candidate for San Jose City Council worked under a Chinese billionaire arrested on bribery and corruption charges, most notably helping the beleaguered CEO’s company sell land from his failed Bay Area developments.

San Jose Planning Commissioner George Casey, who is locked in a heated race to replace District 10 Councilman Arjun Batra, advised a firm run by Zhang Li, the former co-chair and CEO of Chinese developer Guangzhou R&F Properties. The U.S. affiliate, Z&L Properties Inc., developed a string of controversial projects in the South Bay, including “Slavery Towers” ​​— the site of the city’s largest labor trafficking project, in which undocumented workers were housed in shipping containers and forced to work for free.

Casey worked for Z&L Properties between June 2021 and December 2022, he confirmed to San José Spotlight. He said his role as a senior development manager involved helping Li sell his properties to other developers. Casey, a corporate lawyer and real estate agent, alleges he joined Z&L after Li admitted to bribing San Francisco officials from 2015-2020 — and that his role was to help Z&L exit the San Jose market.

“I think it was a good idea to help this company get out of San Jose and turn these properties over to a developer who can turn them into housing and create high-wage jobs,” Casey told San José Spotlight. “That was my focus.”

Li was arrested in London in November 2022 — the same year Casey was working for the development firm — for plying former San Francisco public works director Mohammed Nuru with wine, lavish trips, expensive meals and gifts to speed up a stalled project in the city. A year later, he pleaded guilty to bribery and agreed to pay $50,000 before returning to China. His company was fined $1 million.

The real estate magnate’s arrest left a trail of unfinished projects in the Bay Area, with ugly buildings that fell into increasing disrepair.

The company has faced years of delays and challenges in developing its projects in San Jose, including 700 homes planned at the site of the former Greyhound bus station at 70 S. Almaden Ave. in downtown San Jose and 221 homes planned at 252 N. First St.

The Chinese developer’s most controversial South Bay project was Silvery Towers. In 2015, Z&L bought the rights to develop 650 apartments in two high-rise buildings — a potential economic engine for downtown. But in 2017, federal authorities arrested a subcontractor on the project, Job Torres Hernandez, for recruiting workers through an ad in a Tijuana newspaper promising fair wages and legal status in the U.S. When the workers arrived in Hayward, they were held in squalid rooms, denied compensation and threatened with violence by drug cartels if they spoke out.

Casey doesn’t list Z&L on his LinkedIn page, and some are wondering why he would want to work for a company linked to multiple scandals.

“As a businessman, you make moral and business decisions about who you do business with, and it’s not like he was someone who didn’t have the information in front of him to understand who Z&L was,” Bob Staedler, a development and land use consultant, told San José Spotlight. “You would have to question his judgment and how he would use his judgment to benefit his constituents for the city of San Jose.”

The shadow of Z&L

Z&L became the catalyst for a citywide movement to tackle wage fraud, prompting San Jose City Council members to take stronger measures on worker protections.

Casey said the city’s policy against wage fraud “is adequate as written, but clearly needs vigorous enforcement.” Meanwhile, he said his position is more complex on the city’s efforts to waive development fees for high-rise buildings downtown.

“We have tens of thousands of units that are permitted but are not being built because they don’t ‘fit.’ We need to look at these properties on a case-by-case basis and make sure we balance the need for fees to fund services with the essential need for more housing. It really shouldn’t be one size fits all,” Casey said.

The neglected buildings of Z&L also prompted an attempt by the city to get rid of the dilapidation.

Another abandoned Z&L project that has fallen into disrepair is the former First Church of Christ Scientist building. The building has been vacant for decades, and Z&L has owned the property since 2017 with plans to renovate the church and build more than 200 homes. For most of that time, however, it was covered in tarps and scaffolding and was referred to as the “Trash Bag” church.

The church is one of the problem areas that prompted Mayor Matt Mahan and Councilman Omar Torres to increase fines for neglected properties and neglected study buildings.

In the race for District 10, Casey Mahan received a strong endorsement, with the mayor defending Casey’s work with the controversial developer.

“My understanding is that George Casey was helping Z&L for one simple reason: to get them as far away from San Jose as possible,” Mahan told San José Spotlight. “Starting in 2021, he was working to get land out of their hands and into the hands of people who would use it for what our residents desperately need: more jobs and housing, which is exactly what city staff was working on at the same time.”

The San Jose Police Officers’ Association has supported both Casey and Batra. Police union spokesman Tom Saggau became one of the most outspoken critics of Z&L’s “Slavery Towers” project between 2017 and 2018. Saggau helped turn the scandal into a flashpoint in a debate over labor practices and worker protections. Labor protesters organized in their hundreds against Z&L.

Saggau declined to comment on Casey’s previous employment with Z&L.

Ruth Silver Taube, an employment attorney and columnist for the San José Spotlight, called it “troubling” that Casey has these kinds of connections.

“The City Council has been at the forefront of passing legislation against payroll fraud and has a zero-tolerance policy for businesses when it comes to human trafficking, particularly human trafficking,” she told San José Spotlight.

Impartial or not?

Today, Casey works as a senior counsel and vice president at a real estate tech startup called Unlock Technologies. The company’s website states that it buys home ownership from people with bad credit to help them pay off debt by having them sign agreements that they must pay off over 5-10 years by selling their homes or buying out Unlock’s stake.

“Every mortgage in America carries with it the risk that someone will default and lose their home,” Casey told San José Spotlight. “What we do is help working families who are not being served by big Wall Street lenders to build credit to improve their financial situation. Why anyone would be against helping people improve their financial situation is beyond me.”
Silvery Towers, the controversial project at the heart of the human trafficking and wage fraud scandal, was one of the first projects to receive a waiver of construction-related costs for high-rise buildings in the city center. It is part of a years-long effort to encourage more housing and transform the city center into a thriving urban center.

In June, San Jose City Council members extended the tax exemption for high-rise buildings in the city center for the next seven years.

“If he gets elected, he’s clearly a decision maker who can make these kinds of decisions. It would be a concern,” said Will Smith, a business agent for the San Jose chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who was one of the most vocal protesters at the construction site.

Casey said his work with Z&L will not prevent him from holding developers accountable for wage fraud and corporate neglect.

“I am proud of the positive impact this work has had on our community,” he said.

Contact Brandon Pho at (email protected) or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.