San Francisco Engineer Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud, Honest Services Fraud, and Tax Evasion

Strategic Insights -

San Francisco resident Rodrigo Santos, a licensed civil and structural engineer, has pleaded guilty to multiple counts of bank fraud, honest services fraud, and tax evasion. Santos, who co-founded and owned Santos and Urrutia Structural Engineers, Inc., used his position to defraud clients and embezzle over $1.6 million. He also falsified records to obstruct the FBI investigation. Santos's guilty plea includes admitting to ten counts of bank fraud, one count of honest services wire fraud, one count of falsifying records in a federal investigation, and five counts of tax evasion.

Key Takeaways:

  • Santos, a licensed civil and structural engineer, pleaded guilty to ten counts of bank fraud, involving the commission of fraud against his own clients and his business.
  • He admitted to collecting numerous checks from clients that were meant for municipal agencies, depositing them into his personal bank account, and using the funds for himself.
  • Santos described a scheme in which he altered checks or endorsed them in his own name to deposit the funds into his account, obtaining over $775,000 from his clients.
  • He also pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud, admitting to arranging for charitable contributions from clients to a favored non-profit athletic association in exchange for favorable treatment from a senior building inspector.
  • Santos admitted to tax evasion, claiming over $1.6 million in unreported income from 2012 to 2019 and deliberately omitting it on his tax returns.
  • He agreed to pay more than $1 million in restitution to victims as part of his guilty plea.
  • The case is part of a larger federal investigation targeting public corruption in the City and County of San Francisco, with twelve individuals charged, including high-ranking public officials.

Statistics:

  • Santos deposited 445 client checks into his personal bank account, obtaining over $775,000 from his clients.
  • He deposited approximately 378 checks into his personal account, causing a loss to his engineering firm of over $718,000.
  • Santos arranged for 13 clients to make total donations of $9,600 to a non-profit athletic association from 2017 to 2020.
  • He admitted to tax evasion, claiming over $1.6 million in unreported income from 2012 to 2019.
  • Santos agreed to pay more than $1 million in restitution to victims.

Sources:

  • [May 11, 2020:] A federal complaint was filed against Rodrigo Santos, charging him with bank fraud.
  • [CR 21-268 SI:] Santos pleaded guilty in an indictment to ten counts of bank fraud, honest services wire fraud, and falsifying records in a federal investigation.
  • [CR 21-453 SI:] Santos pleaded guilty to one count of honest services wire fraud.
  • [CR 22-345 SI:] Santos pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion.
  • [The United States Department of Justice.]