By Alberto Garcia
Investigative Reporter
A lawsuit filed against the City of San Diego and the San Diego Padres to invalidate the 2022 sale of Tailgate Park to the Padres may succeed at the trial court level, throwing the controversial deal into uncertainty just 10 days before the Mayoral election.
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<p>The former highest-ranking City of San Diego staffer has come forward as the whistleblower who first exposed over $15 million in profits hidden within the controversial 101 Ash building lease deal.</p>
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<p><span><span><span>One of the principals of the City’s landlord company and the City’s pro bono real estate broker mislead the City’s then-Chief Operating Officer about $9.4 million in undisclosed payments made to the broker on two controversial building leases.</span></span></span></p>
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<p><span><span><span>The highest-ranking City staffer at the time the 101 Ash building was evacuated in January 2020 has now admitted she leaked documents to a reporter while investigations into the controversial lease were underway.</span></span></span></p>
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<p><br><em>Investigative Reporter</em></p>
<p>The legal team representing the City of San Diego in a group of lawsuits related to the failed 101 Ash Street building acquisition is brokering a global settlement that would include a deal not to charge the City’s private real estate broker with any crimes.</p>
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<p>San Diego’s City Attorney complained to the region’s largest newspaper and threatened to sue over its coverage of her complicity in the 101 Ash Street scandal in hopes of impacting their reporting, and when the paper’s lawyer rebuffed her threats, she sent a second letter bemoaning that her correspondence had become public. </p>