Chinese Property Tycoon Avoids US Prison for Bribes in Deal (1)

Chinese property tycoon Zhang Li admitted bribing a top San Francisco building official to win permits for a construction project and won’t face criminal charges under an agreement he reached with US prosecutors.

Zhang Li, 70, of Guangzhou, China, was charged by the US in 2021 and arrested last year in the United Kingdom, prosecutors said in a statement. After six months he agreed to be extradited. 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 ...