Unindicted co-conspirator stays silent after FBI arrests but still on SCIF board

Weeks after four top Sacramento political figures were ensnared in an FBI corruption probe, one of them — lobbyist Alexis Podesta — has remained quiet and emerged relatively unscathed.

Despite speculation that Gov. Gavin Newsom would remove her, Podesta attended a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday for the State Compensation Insurance Fund, the state agency on whose board of directors she sits, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting.

The State Compensation Insurance Fund acts as a workers’ compensation insurer for the state. Newsom appointed Podesta, a longtime Jerry Brown aide, to the board in 2020. Members attend quarterly meetings, and draw a salary; Podesta was paid around $70,000 in 2023, according to the most recent available data.

Podesta’s attorney, Bill Portanova, previously confirmed that his client is an unindicted co-conspirator cited in the indictment that the U.S. Attorney’s Office unsealed last month. Prosecutors accused lobbyist Greg Campbell, former Deputy State Attorney General Sean McCluskie and former Gavin Newsom chief of staff Dana Williamson of siphoning campaign funds from former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, McCluskie’s boss, to pad McCluskie’s salary.

Eighteen of the 23 counts each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to Portanova, Podesta is cooperating with investigators in the ongoing probe, which set Sacramento on edge after The Sacramento Bee reported that the FBI notified dozens of lobbyists and consultants that investigators had listened to or read their conversations in summer 2024. Podesta appeared to have recorded conversations between her and Williamson after she began cooperating with the investigation, according to the indictment.

Podesta did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday and has not made any public statements since FBI agents arrested McCluskie, Williamson, and Campbell on Nov. 12. McCluskie has pleaded guilty, and Campbell is scheduled for a plea hearing Thursday after announcing he was shutting down his consulting firm.

Williamson, who was known as a sharp-elbowed political operative before her arrest, has pleaded not guilty and said she handed off her client list to Podesta before joining the Newsom administration in late 2022. Podesta then began billing Becerra’s campaign in January 2023, for monthly consulting services at Williamson’s request, according to the indictment. Podesta did not know the payments were fraudulent, according to Portanova.

The federal probe appears to be linked to a whistleblower complaint from 2022 in which prosecutors claimed Williamson intervened in a state sexual harassment lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, a video game maker. Prosecutors accused Williamson of using her position to pass on information about the case to Podesta, who represented Activision Blizzard at the time.

Podesta has not publicly divulged any of her clients, according to Form 700 disclosures on file with the Fair Political Practices Commission dating back to 2016. She set up her firm, the Podesta Company, in 2020 after serving for five years as secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency in the Brown and Newsom administrations. She previously worked at PG&E alongside Williamson, whose supporters Politico reported last month are “furious” with Podesta after distancing herself from Williamson.

The Podesta Company’s website lists a raft of state agencies with whom it has “led and coordinated” like SCIF, Alcoholic Beverage Control, and the California Housing Finance Agency. It also lists the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, now known as the California Civil Rights Department, which prosecuted the Activision Blizzard case.

Podesta’s connection to Activision Blizzard does not appear publicly anywhere other than the indictment, which says she took over some of Williamson’s client list when Williamson joined Newsom’s office.

The FPPC does not comment on its involvement with ongoing criminal investigations or prosecutions, spokesperson Shery Yang said in an email. “However, we can confirm that when law-enforcement agencies request assistance or expertise, we have provided — and will continue to provide — whatever support is necessary to ensure that California’s ethics and campaign-finance laws are fully and vigorously enforced.”

Per SCIF’s corporate policy, members of the board must file annual economic interest reports. SCIF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Those disclosures must include any property interests worth $2,000 or more, any businesses in which the filer or their spouse or family members has an investment or position that nets them $2,000 or more, and any income sources worth $500 or more “provided to, promised to, or received by the filer within 12 months prior to the time of making a decision.”

According to the federal indictment, in January 2023 while she was Newsom’s chief of staff, Williamson passed on information to Podesta about the agency’s then-ongoing sexual harassment litigation against Activision Blizzard, which Podesta and Williamson advised at different times.

In her financial disclosures, Williamson included a list of her clients which include Attorney General Rob Bonta’s 2022 election campaign, Activision Blizzard, Comcast, Meta, Axiom Advisers, UCSF, and several consultancies included in The Collaborative, the elite stable of political advisers with ties to Newsom, Kamala Harris, and other high-profile California Democrats.

Williamson also reported that her company, Grace Public Affairs, received over $100,000 in consulting work for the California Democratic Party despite being dormant, according to her 2024 financial disclosure.

McGregor Scott, Williamson’s attorney, said the work was for state ballot initiatives and that she paid all appropriate taxes on the money, but could not say why she reported her company as being inactive.

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