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While details remain sparse in the wake of a high-profile FBI raid on the Contra Costa County Assessor’s Office and the homes of its two top officials earlier this year, the independent accounting firm tasked with evaluating that office’s financial compliance is set to be busier than ever following a contract amendment to fund an expanded audit scope and other analysis that was approved by the Board of Supervisors last week.
An amendment increasing the payment limit by $250,000 compared with the existing contract for financial auditing services was approved unanimously by the board as part of the consent calendar at its Aug. 25 meeting,
“Since the execution of the original audit engagement letter, MGO has become aware of increased audit risk in the County, including publicly reported information regarding an ongoing federal investigation involving a County elected official, as well as additional information concerning functions within that office that may be relevant to an assessment of audit risk,” County Administrator Monica Nino wrote in a staff report for last Tuesday’s board agenda.
The $250,000 increase was requested in a letter from Macias Gini and O’Connell LLP to Nino and county Auditor-Controller Joanne Bohren on Aug. 6 that acknowledged the sparse and inconclusive details surrounding the investigation and the lack of criminal charges to date.
“Nothing contained in this amendment should be interpreted as a determination regarding the validity of any allegation, assertion, investigation, or claim, nor should it be construed as a forensic investigation, fraud examination, performance audit, or independent investigative engagement unless separately agreed to in writing,” CPA David Bullock wrote to county officials.
Nonetheless, Bullock noted that “certain matters have become known to us” that require the firm to modify its audit approach in order to “address the increased level of audit risk” in Contra Costa County that was determined amid the FBI investigation and unspecified additional information that the firm has learned about the Assessor’s Office functions.
“The additional work may concern expanded considerations of matters affecting risk assessment, internal control, compliance, governance, management representations, financial reporting impacts and other matters relevant to the audit of the county’s financial statements and our responsibilities under applicable professional standards,” Bullock wrote.
It is also set to include an expanded audit scope with “additional consideration of certain property tax administration and related processes” at the county’s request, according to Bullock.
MGO has been under contract with the county since 2023, with the amendment passed this week coming months after a two-year contract renewal in April, ahead of the June 2 primary election in which voters chose assistant county assessor Vince Robb in a three-way race to succeed current Assessor Gus Kramer at the end of the year amid the incumbent’s planned retirement from a 32-year tenure in the seat.
News of the federal investigation into the office broke the following week with prominent FBI raids on the office and a number of other locations June 9.
No criminal charges appear to have been filed since then, with the purpose and scope of the investigation remaining unclear months later. Kramer told media outlets on the scene as federal investigators executed a search warrant on the office that the endeavor was “a fishing expedition, based on rumor and innuendo.”
Subpoenas reportedly obtained by Bay Area News Group in July show that federal investigators were also seeking assessment records related to the Martinez Refining Company and to a Walnut Creek apartment complex that was the subject of a lawsuit settled by the county for $135,000 earlier this year with a former employee of Kramer’s who alleged that he had wrongfully sought to decrease the property’s assessed value by $3 million.
The settlement did not admit any wrongdoing, which Kramer has also denied.
Two prominent local development companies and the families behind them – the Seeno family’s Discovery Homes, and DeNova Homes, founded by David Sanson, Lori Sanson and Trent Sanson – were also subjects of the investigation, according to Bay Area News Group.
Those names might be known to some in the Tri Valley – and across the county line – with DeNova’s portfolio recently coming to include the Cava and Amarone townhome projects on Triad Place in northeastern Livermore.
Construction is currently underway on the first Tri-Valley project in Discovery Homes’ portfolio southwest Dublin at Shaefer Ranch. But the Seeno family’s presence has been prominent to residents and commuters on Interstate 680 for years, as the owners of a swath of land in the San Ramon Valley’s eastern hills home to a number of exotic animals that was dubbed the “San Ramon Valley Safari” by DanvilleSanRamon in 2011.
The Seeno family has also come to be a top public enemy for environmental advocates with Save Mount Diablo, who have been documenting, and critiquing their alleged “extensive history of breaking laws and cutting corners to get what they want,” over the years.
What remains unknown to the public so far – in the Tri-Valley and elsewhere – is the overall mission of the investigation and what findings, if any, might emerge. The $250,000 contract amendment was passed as part of a mass motion without further discussion by supervisors at last week’s meeting.
“We appreciate the cooperation of County management and those charged with governance and look forward to continuing to serve the County,” Bullock wrote in this month’s letter to Contra Costa officials. “We remain committed to conducting our work in accordance with applicable professional standards while maintaining the highest degree of independence, objectivity, and professional care.”
