SF Bribery Scandal Could See Fisherman's Wharf Restaurant Forced Out

The owners of Nick’s Lighthouse, an iconic Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant, have been suspended from conducting business with San Francisco pending criminal bribery charges, the city attorney’s office announced Thursday.

Min “James” Paik and Hye Paik, the owners of Nick’s Lighthouse, were charged last year with bribing a Port of San Francisco employee and an undercover FBI agent roughly $19,000 to obtain new port leases.

With San Francisco now barring the Paiks and affiliates from doing further business with the city, Nick’s Lighthouse could be pushed out of its current space on Taylor Street, across from the iconic Fisherman’s Wharf crab sign, if officials decide to terminate its lease, which is scheduled to end in 2036.

“The City has no interest in contracting with corrupt businesses attempting to circumvent our fair bidding processes,” City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement. “We hope this serves as a stark reminder to anyone who tries to bribe their way into a City contract that they will be investigated and held accountable. I am immensely proud of the Port employee who did the right thing and alerted the appropriate officials to this unlawful conduct.”

Port officials, meanwhile, “will continue to cooperate with the federal authorities who investigated this case and are consulting with the City Attorney’s Office as we consider next steps regarding the Nick’s Lighthouse lease,” Executive Director Elaine Forbes said in a statement.

Eric Young, a spokesperson for the port, confirmed there’s no timeline yet for the decision.

The bribery investigation in Fisherman’s Wharf dovetails a yearslong effort by the U.S. Department of Justice to root out corruption in San Francisco.

Mohammed Nuru, the former director of public works, is now serving a seven-year sentence in federal prison after he was indicted in 2020 on bribery charges. Other high-profile city officials were ensnared in the corruption probe, including Harlan Kelly, the former manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, who was sentenced to four years in federal prison after being found guilty of accepting bribes from a city contractor.

Nick’s Lighthouse restaurant sits on a row of classic San Francisco seafood restaurants, including Alioto’s and Sabella & La Torre. It started as the Lighthouse in the 1930s, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and was renamed several times over the intervening decades as new owners took over the space.

In addition to Nick’s Lighthouse, the Paiks own or are affiliated with several businesses, including Wharf777 Inc. and Uri Food Inc., which were also suspended from doing business with the city, along with two other individuals in their family connected to the scheme, Sung Ki Kim and Ihyun Jeoung.

The Paiks’ businesses are not all known, as some are registered in the names of their family, including nephews, nieces, and their children, the U.S. Department of Justice alleges.

In 2023, Paik met numerous times with an unnamed city employee who oversees the operation of retail spaces owned by the Port of San Francisco, according to the criminal complaint against Paik. Paik and his wife were charged in November with conspiracy to commit bribery and bribery of an agent of an organization receiving federal funds.

During one in-person meeting, Paik told the employee that he would pay “extra money” to anyone who would help him secure leases on several vacant port properties, according to the complaint. Paik also allegedly attempted to bribe an unnamed real estate agent contracted by the port. One of the spaces Paik sought was for the now-closed Butterfly Restaurant site at Pier 33, just down the street from the tourist destination Pier 39.

“If you butterfly restaurant pier 33 successful lease for me I will give to $5000 cash for you. Do not say anybody,” Paik sent in a May 2023 email to the real estate agent, according to the complaint.

The agent replied, “James, That is illegal and I will not take part in that. Please understand that the Port will determine who will take on the butterfly space. I will get you a proposal this week. Thank you.”

The real estate agent forwarded the email to the port staff.

In another meeting with the port employee to ask for help in paying back rent, Paik also asked for help in obtaining the lease for the Butterfly Restaurant space, as well as vacant properties formerly occupied by Lou’s Fish Shack and Pompei’s Grotto, according to the complaint.

Several hours later, Paik asked to meet the port employee outside their office, handed over an envelope containing $3,000 in $100 bills, and thanked them for their help, the complaint alleges. The port employee turned over the money to the FBI.

The bribes continued, and by October, Paik was meeting with an undercover FBI agent posing as a port employee, who surreptitiously recorded their meeting and asked Paik, “Can you give us an idea for what you are willing to help us with?” in exchange for help obtaining leases, according to the complaint.

“When you finish the lease, let me see, maybe, maybe 10, 10 first,” Paik allegedly responded. “And then I … give to you yearly.”

Paik then allegedly promised he would give more “for your lifetime.”