CLEVELAND, Ohio – Basheer Jones championed progressive ideals, fighting as an activist to get high schoolers registered to vote and urging people to become more involved in their communities.
As a one-term Cleveland councilman, he pushed against what he believed were establishment politicians who long ignored the needs of residents on the city’s East Side. He often sought to pair businesses, nonprofits and the city to funnel money into Ward 7, which includes some of the poorest neighborhoods in Cleveland.
Federal prosecutors on Monday, however, said Jones used his sway and connections to funnel some $135,000 straight into his and his girlfriend’s pockets. He failed at another scheme that would have added $65,000 to the total, according to prosecutors.
Jones — who once ran a doomed mayoral campaign — was charged in U.S. District Court in Cleveland with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit honest service wire fraud. He was charged via information, rather than indictment, which typically indicates a defendant intends to plead guilty.
Prosecutors said he swindled nonprofits out of cash by acting altruistically in setting up real-estate deals to help the agencies and the surrounding community, yet he never mentioned that this girlfriend, Sinera McCoy, owned the businesses that would ultimately cash out on the projects.
McCoy is not charged, and she has not been identified in the case. The allegations in the filing, however, link her to Jones’ case through court records, real-estate documents and public records obtained by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer through records requests.
McCoy, a state-licensed real estate agent, was in a romantic relationship with Jones between 2018 through at least 2021, according to prosecutors.
She operated two business that prosecutors said she used in the schemes — King Management Group and Associates and Steinberg Enterprises LLC. Jones, according to campaign finance records, paid King Management and Associates $3,200 for marketing during his campaign for mayor.
Jones’ attorney, Fernando Mack, has declined comment. Attempts to reach Jones and McCoy were unsuccessful.
Early days
Jones, 40, grew up in Cleveland and rose to prominence as an activist, radio show host and author. His work in traveling the city to get high school students engaged in politics and encourage them to register to vote attracted national attention from CNN and Time magazine.
In 2017, he announced his run for council after sleeping in a tent for three days on East 79th and Superior Avenue, near where someone had been fatally shot, to put a spotlight on the city’s violence.
He beat incumbent T.J. Dow by 13 votes, becoming the first Muslim council person in the city’s history, just shy of his 34th birthday.
Jones became one of the most outspoken council members and led protests against inhumane treatment of inmates at the Cuyahoga County Jail, as well as for those wrongfully incarcerated. He also twice survived recall efforts based on accusations that he threatened area businesses and didn’t live in his ward, a requirement of council members.
In 2021, he ran for mayor and finished fifth out of seven candidates.
A job for his girlfriend
Federal prosecutors said Jones waited about 11 months into his term as a council member before embarking on his first scheme.
In November 2018, he met with John Anoliefo, the executive director of the Famicos Foundation, a nonprofit community development corporation. Council members have significant sway over their wards’ community development corporations and their funding.
The meeting happened as city officials ramped up an expensive and expansive project to revitalize the Midtown and Hough neighborhoods with new investments, buildings and partnerships with nonprofits and businesses.
Jones told Anoliefo that Famicos should hire a community outreach consultant to increase its engagement with residents, according to prosecutors.
Jones separately told McCoy to apply for the position and request $5,000 per month, court records say. She put together a proposal, highlighting that she could work directly with Jones to get development and planning projects approved, according to the charges. Neither Jones nor McCoy told Famicos about their relationship, prosecutors said.
Famicos paid McCoy’s company $25,000 over the next five months, then $7,500 in September 2019 and $8,000 in April 2020.
McCoy never did any of the work she proposed to do, prosecutors said.
Anoliefo on Tuesday declined comment.
Community event
In May 2020, Jones went back to Famicos looking for money for a community event he had set up to give away free gift cards, backpacks and other items. But he hadn’t been able to purchase them because he had yet to receive money from his council ward fund, according to prosecutors.
Jones asked for $50,000 and promised to repay it. Famicos cut him a check, prosecutors said.
Jones transferred all $50,000 into McCoy’s King Management and Associates bank account. Jones took $10,000 in cash, McCoy put $11,427 in her personal bank account, and $10,500 was sent to two of Jones’ associates, according to court records.
The city later denied Famico’s request for reimbursement.
A building crumbles in Hough
Jones and McCoy pocketed $45,000 after convincing another nonprofit to buy a crumbling building on East 66th Street and Hough Avenue that once housed a convenience store but had long been vacant, prosecutors allege.
Shortly after, Jones called the owner and asked about buying the building, and separately he asked the city’s building and housing department about how much it would cost to demolish the building. He was told about $40,500, according to prosecutors.
McCoy told the building owner that she and Jones would take on the cost of the demolition and any back taxes owed on the building if the owner sold it for $1, according to prosecutors.
Nearly a year later, on June 1, 2021, Jones approached Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, a nonprofit that works as an intermediary between community development corporations and civic and business leaders.
He said he would act as liaison between the nonprofit and the building’s owner to facilitate a deal that would benefit the community, according to prosecutors.
He never mentioned that he and McCoy intended on buying the building, the charges say. Two weeks later, McCoy’s Steinberg Enterprises finalized the deal with the building owner for $1.
McCoy turned around and sold the building to Cleveland Neighborhood Progress for $45,000, never mentioning her connection to Steinberg or Jones, or that she owned the building, according to prosecutors.
McCoy never paid the demolition costs, and McCoy and Jones gained the money from the sale, according to prosecutors.
Jones took $15,000, while McCoy put $15,000 in her personal bank account. She kept the remaining $9,600 and distributed small amounts at Jones’ behest, according to the charges.
Final scheme falls through
Prosecutors also said Jones concocted another scheme in 2019 in which he would help someone buy a dilapidated liquor store, get city funds allocated to help a nonprofit buy the building and split the profits.
The plan fell through because the nonprofit, community development corporation Lexington Bell, had conflict-of-interest concerns about McCoy’s involvement in the deal and because it was too expensive, according to court records.
Prosecutors said Jones and another man took ownership of Superior Beverage, a long vacant building on Superior Avenue and East 61st Street, after the owner agreed to sell it to them for nothing.
Jones went to Lexington Bell and promised to facilitate the deal and that he would ensure the nonprofit would be reimbursed by the city, according to prosecutors.
In June 2019, Jones sponsored legislation that was approved by council for $225,000 to Lexington Bell to buy the building and renovate it using Ward 7’s Casino Revenue Funds and Neighborhood Capital Funds. Those funds are given to each council person, who decides how to spend that money.
Three months later, the property was transferred to McCoy’s King Management and Associates at Jones’ request.
After Lexington Bell declined, Jones asked another nonprofit if it wanted to buy the building, saying that he already legislated funding for it. The nonprofit declined.
Adam Ferrise covers federal courts at cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. You can find his work here.