San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced February 27 that city officials recently uncovered “an egregious and intentional scheme to defraud the City and its taxpayers” involving vendors submitting fake invoices, double-billing, and billing taxpayers for personal items including bourbon and cigars.
Chiu initiated debarment proceedings against, and immediately suspended, Drew Jenkins, Susan Murphy, and J&J Community Resource Center, preventing them from bidding on or receiving city contracts or grants. A joint investigation with the Controller’s Office revealed that Jenkins and affiliates routinely defrauded the city.
“Contractors who willfully disregard regulations are a blight on public service and should not have the same opportunities as those who abide by the rules of fair conduct,” Controller Ben Rosenfield said.
J&J Community Resource Center is a San Francisco-based nonprofit, incorporated in 2018 by Jenkins and his late mother, with the stated mission to “gather and provide information and direct public benefit services to youth and disadvantaged families.” Drew Jenkins has served as the executive director or chief executive officer since the nonprofit’s inception.
Over the past several years, J&J received public grant funding either directly from the city or as a subcontractor.
“Beginning in 2021, Jenkins sought to illegally extract at least $100,000 from the City through a repeated combination of fabricated invoices, double billing, and reimbursement for ineligible expenses,” Chiu’s office stated in a news release.
Using funds intended for a violence prevention program, “Jenkins sought reimbursement for a bottle of bourbon and cigars purchased from a liquor store in Atlanta during a college tour trip,” the release stated. He also sought reimbursement for motorcycle rentals in Lake Tahoe and billed ineligible expenses for e-bike rentals to a fund intended to support COVID programs and a youth center.
Debarment is an administrative enforcement procedure that authorizes the city to ban contractors from applying for or receiving city contracts or grants for up to five years. Individuals or business entities are to be debarred upon a finding of “willful misconduct” with respect to any grant or contract.