Federal prosecutors have accused Basheer Jones, a former Cleveland City Council member and 2021 mayoral candidate, of using his position to try to defraud local community groups out of $200,000.
The charges allege that Jones and a romantic partner found ways to make money off of community work and land deals that were meant to better his ward.
Jones, 40, was charged in federal court on Monday by information – a document often used when a defendant cooperates with prosecutors or has worked out a plea deal. He did not answer a text message from Signal Cleveland seeking comment Monday night.
Federal officials have been investigating Jones since at least 2022, when they sent subpoenas to Famicos Foundation, a nonprofit community development corporation that works in Cleveland’s Hough and Glenville neighborhoods, and also to Cleveland City Hall.
The FBI’s Cleveland Division, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of the Inspector General and the IRS all participated in the investigation.
Jones served one term representing the Hough and St. Clair-Superior neighborhoods on Cleveland City Council from 2018 to the start of 2022. He ran for mayor in 2021 but did not advance out of the primary.
Prosecutors alleged that, while he served on council, Jones convinced an unnamed nonprofit to hire a romantic partner as a “community outreach consultant” in 2018. The nonprofit paid tens of thousands of dollars to this partner, who “concealed her personal relationship” with Jones, the charging document said. Prosecutors don’t name the partner in court documents and she is not charged in Monday’s court filing.
Jones is also charged with encouraging the same nonprofit to pay his partner’s company $50,000 to buy gift cards, backpacks and other items for a community event in 2020. Instead, Jones, his partner and two other people took much of the money for themselves, according to the charges.
The City of Cleveland later declined to reimburse the nonprofit for the $50,000 in expenses.
Charges focus on property deals
Prosecutors also allege that Jones used his position as a council member to try and profit from the sale of two properties in his ward. In one case, the deal collapsed.
In 2020, Jones sponsored legislation to grant $200,000 to the nonprofit Lexington Bell Community Center to buy and renovate a commercial building on Superior Avenue, City Council records show. The money was to come from discretionary casino revenue and neighborhood capital dollars, according to the legislation.
Lexington-Bell is not named in the charging document, which refers to four unnamed nonprofits.
At the time of the legislation, the building belonged to King Management Group and Associates, according to property records. According to the charging documents, the owner of the company was Jones’ romantic partner. King Management Group and Associates is separate from the similarly named King Management Group Ltd., a property company linked to indicted East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King.
But the nonprofit decided not to go through with the purchase, and a second nonprofit also declined to buy the building, the charging document said.
A second property deal involved land that once housed a corner store at East 66th Street and Hough Avenue. After the building collapsed, Jones spoke with the city’s building and housing department about having the structure demolished, the charging document said. At the time, the city was trying to redevelop the area around East 66th Street.
Jones spoke with a senior vice president of an unnamed nonprofit about buying the property from its then-owner, according to the charges. The nonprofit official believed that Jones was acting in his capacity as the area’s council member. But the official did not know that Jones and his partner were also arranging to buy the property first, the charges said.
In July 2021, while Jones was mounting his mayoral campaign, the property owner sold the land for $1 to Steinberg Enterprises, property records show. The company was owned by Jones’ partner, according to the charges.
Later that month, the nonprofit bought the land from Steinberg Enterprises for $45,000. Jones’ partner concealed her identity by signing for the sale using a relative’s name, according to the charging document.
She later transferred $15,000 to Jones, kept almost $9,700 for herself and spent the rest at Jones’ direction, prosecutors allege.
The buyer of the land was HCLT Holdings LLC, a company formed by an arm of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, business and property records show. Cleveland Neighborhood Progress cooperated with the investigation.