CLEVELAND — Former Cleveland City Councilman Basheer Jones has been charged in federal court for alleged fraud and bribery committed during his time in office, according to a release from the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
The release says Jones was charged via information on two counts involving conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services fraud. Prosecutors claim the 40-year-old lied to numerous nonprofits and deliberately hid facts to enter into deals that benefited both Jones and his unnamed co-conspirator, whom he was apparently in a romantic relationship with.
3News first reported in 2022 that Jones was the subject of an FBI investigation related to his business dealings with nonprofits. Jones served for one term on city council in Ward 7 before electing to run for Mayor of Cleveland in 2021, finishing fifth out of seven candidates in the nonpartisan blanket primary.
A charge via information means a defendant was not indicted by a grand jury, but rather after the accusations were presented to "a competent public officer" who rules that there is reason to believe a crime occurred. The filing indicates Jones has waived his right to be charged by a grand jury.
The charges state Jones and "Coconspirator 1" ran their scheme between December of 2018 and June 2021, during which time Jones would advise nonprofits to apply for funding or hire a "consultant" while not telling these organizations that the advisor was, in fact, his romantic partner. In one instance, the alleged coconspirator is said to have taken a "community outreach consultant" position with "Nonprofit 1" for $5,000 a month, all while doing lackluster work with the money being funneled back to Jones. The same group is also said to have given Jones $50,000 for a community event, but while he told them the money would be reimbursed by the city, this never occurred and the event was never held.
In other instances, authorities accuse Jones of arranging for his partner and other co-conspirators of acquiring old properties and using his position as an elected official to pass ordinances allowing the city to buy those properties from them, with nonprofits also unwittingly involved. In one case, prosecutors say Jones arranged for a nonprofit to buy a property for $45,000 while not disclosing that the area was owned by his romantic partner's consulting business.
All told, Jones and his co-conspirators plans sought to steal more than $200,000.
3News has reached out to Jones' attorney for comment on the case.
While the Department of Justice has not yet officially revealed the names of Jones' alleged co-conspirators or the organizations he is accused of victimizing, 3News' previous reporting confirmed that the initial federal investigation at least partly involved Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services, a financially strapped nonprofit Jones had championed while in the city legislature. Last year, Cleveland real estate developer Arthur Fayne was convicted of, among other things, defrauding the New Eastside Market of more than $880,000 while failing to deliver on a promised NEON clinic inside the facility. Fayne was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his crimes.
Other organizations involved in the federal probe of Jones included the redevelopment group, the Famicos Foundation, as well as The Real Black Friday, which promotes small minority businesses. Again, any potential connections to Monday's charges against Jones have not been confirmed.
