A California property tax official who known as himself a “dangerous boy” and as soon as dressed up in drag is now the goal of a FBI investigation.
FBI brokers executed three search warrants on Tuesday on the Contra Costa County Assessor’s workplace and two residences linked to County Assessor Gus Kramer and Assistant Assessor Vince Rob, who was elected to be Kramer’s successor.
Brokers left the assessor’s workplace round 1:30 p.m., ABC7 reported, however the workplace remained closed.
The FBI declined to remark to media on the explanation for the investigation, however a sealed warrant signed final week by a federal decide for investigation was for wire fraud.
Kramer stated he has no concept what the investigation may very well be for.
“I don’t wire something, so I don’t have the slightest concept what they’re speaking about,” Kramer advised CBS Information. “I believe it is a fishing expedition based mostly on rumor and inuendo.”
He added that he suspected the investigation may very well be from two former workers who left the workplace years in the past. He additionally floated the thought of political retaliation from the county board of supervisors.
“They’re making accusations. They’d have had entry to among the data they’re mentioning,” stated Kramer on the previous staffers. “I’ve been investigated extra instances than not and each time I’m exonerated.”
He additionally claimed the investigation needed to do with the assessed worth of properties within the county.
Kramer advised ABC7 he doesn’t know what objects had been taken from his workplace however that brokers took one doc from his house.
Kramer, who has been in workplace since 1994 and can retire on the finish of this yr, has had a colourful historical past of controversy. Again in 2018, there was a probe into Kramer’s a number of private actual property investments within the very county he oversaw property tax for.
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A yr later, he was focused by a grand jury accusation over allegedly making a hostile and abusive work atmosphere after feminine workers reported undesirable sexual remarks and racial disparagement. In 2009, a employee claimed Kramer retaliated towards her after accusing him of sexual harassment.
There additionally appears to be tensions between Kramer and the county supervisors. Kramer filed a federal lawsuit in 2012 towards them, claiming discrimination for a pay elevate that didn’t come by way of. Board members had endorsed Kramer’s opponent within the 2022 election and publicly censured Kramer in 2019.
“The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors is conscious of the continuing federal legislation enforcement investigation on the Assessor’s Workplace,” a spokesperson for the board of supervisors stated.
Kramer’s persona appears simply as colourful. The duvet of his 1997 workers calendar featured him as Augustus Caesar with a leafy crown and “The Dangerous Boy Assessor” as his title, the East Bay Instances reported.
In a 1999 Christmas occasion, he was recorded coming right into a banquet room with girls’s lingerie, a garter belt and stockings. Some noticed it for example of sexism, however Kramer had dismissed such accusations.
“It was finished in jest at a Christmas occasion. It was finished for leisure,” he stated.
