Chinese property tycoon Zhang Li has admitted to bribing a top San Francisco building official to win permits for a construction project.
But he will not face criminal charges, under an agreement he reached with US prosecutors.
The businessman was charged by the US in 2021 after being arrested last year in the UK, prosecutors said.
His admission stems from a larger public corruption scandal prosecuted by multiple city and federal agencies, resulting in charges against 14 people, including the former head of San Francisco’s Department of Public Works.
According to court documents, Zhang, the co-founder of Guangzhou R&F Properties Co, will see the case dismissed in three years if all conditions of the so-called deferred prosecution agreement are met, including paying restitution.
If he had been convicted of the US charges, he could have faced as long as 20 years in prison.
Zhang bribed public works director Mohammed Nuru with food, drinks, luxury lodging and transport during a trip Nuru took to China in 2018, prosecutors said. In exchange, Nuru gave Zhang and his company favourable treatment and city approvals for the development of a mixed-use project in San Francisco.
Nuru was sentenced in August to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding the public of its right to his honest services.
