city attorney

<p></p>

<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>

<p><br>
</p>

<p>A legal memo drafted by outside lawyers for the City that’s been shielded from disclosure for more than a year concluded that San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott failed to properly vet the 101 Ash Street building in downtown before she approved it in December 2016, and the memo sheds light on an ongoing cover-up to obscure Elliott’s failure to adequately protect taxpayers in the acquisition of the disastrous project – but Elliott has worked to keep the conclusions in the memo hidden.</p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br>
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The ownership makeup of the 101 Ash Street building before and after the City of San Diego entered into a 20-year lease-to-own agreement is now under renewed scrutiny.</span></p>

<h6>Photo<i> Credit: Matt Hoffman – KPBS</i></h6>

<p><br>
<strong></strong></p>

<div>
<p>San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott is misleading the public by refusing to release potentially damning parts of a forensic report that reviewed the 101 Ash Street building deal, even after the report was promised to be an independent and comprehensive analysis of what has now become one of the City’s worst financial debacles in its history.</p>