Ex-49ers Lobbyist Admits He Lied About Source of Leak to Protect Santa Clara Council Member

Updated 4:30 p.m. Wednesday

Taking the stand for the third time, the former chief lobbyist of the 49ers on Tuesday attempted to justify why he initially lied to reporters and officials about where he obtained a leaked civil grand jury report, the document at the center of the perjury trial of Santa Clara Councilmember Anthony Becker.

In response to an array of cross-examination questions from one of Becker’s defense attorneys, Rahul Chandhok said it was in the “best interest” of the 49ers to conceal the true source of the report when he received it in October 2022. But he emphasized that it was Becker who leaked the report to him first, reiterating the assertion he made during his first two days on the stand — that he had received the confidential copy of the grand jury report Becker.

Elected in 2020 as part of a slate of city council candidates backed by millions of dollars from the 49ers, Becker is accused of leaking a confidential civil grand jury report titled “Unsportsmanlike Conduct” to Chandhok and a local media outlet.

The report accuses Becker and four other council members of having unethical and inappropriately close relationships with the team, whose stadium is located in the city.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office charged Becker in April 2023 with a misdemeanor for violating his duty as an elected official to keep the document confidential until its public release and with felony perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury about his actions.

After agreeing to an immunity deal with prosecutors last year, Chandhok agreed to testify that Becker sent him the report, via a secure messaging app, four days before its publication date.

On Tuesday, the third day of Becker’s trial, his defense team pointed to communications from around the time the report was leaked, noting that Chandhok had said in emails and texts with journalists and government officials that the team received the report from “multiple press outlets” or “the media,” but never mentioned Becker.

Former Santa Clara City Attorney Steve Ngo on Wednesday testified that when the city received its confidential copy of the grand jury report on Oct. 5, he knew it would be a “politically charged” document, and was “concerned” it would be illegally leaked ahead of its Oct. 10 public release date.

That’s exactly why he emailed Santa Clara’s mayor and the entire City Council on Oct. 5, writing “DO NOT DISCLOSE CONTEXT OF REPORT UNTIL MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, at 10AM” in all caps, red, bold and underlined text, Ngo told the court

After the document was leaked anyway, Ngo emailed the Council and mayor again on Oct. 7, the day multiple media outlets published a story about the report, reiterating his advice to still not share it until the scheduled release date.

In announcing the charges last year, District Attorney Jeff Rosen said Becker “violated the public’s trust” with his alleged actions.

Becker pleaded not guilty in May 2023, and after months of delays and extensions, the trial began last week in Santa Clara County Superior Court in Morgan Hill.

The grand jury report alleges that Becker and the four other council members in question “vote in a manner that is favorable to the 49ers.” The group, it asserts, “frequently meets with registered 49ers lobbyists close in time to City Council meetings but does not reveal the substance of those meetings to the remainder of the City Council or the public.”

Chandhok testified on Nov. 6 that the early access to the report allowed the 49ers to strategize in advance about how best to respond to allegations about the team’s questionable influence on local politics, the San Francisco Chronicle reported last week..

Chandhok — who left the 49ers in April 2023 to become the chief lobbyist for the U.S. Soccer Federation — also testified on Nov. 6 that Becker told him he distributed the report to a couple of local news websites and initially tried to cover up the source of the document leak by claiming that the 49ers got the report from multiple media sources.

Grant Fondo, Becker’s defense attorney, spent much of Tuesday questioning Chandhok about his communications with people besides Becker, including the Santa Clara city attorney, the county official in charge of the civil grand jury program and local reporters..

Fondo asked why Chandhok would lie to or mislead those people about where he got the report.

The questioning became more heated when Fondo zeroed in on an email exchange in which a local journalist asked Chandhok “who or what entity” leaked the report. Chandhok responded, “I do not know. We were provided a copy from members of the media.”

“So are you lying today, or were you lying then when you answered that question?” Fondo asked him.

Chandhok clarified that he didn’t tell the journalist that he had received the report from Becker because he thought it would be detrimental to the 49ers to share information about the source of a leaked confidential report.

“So you lied on Oct. 9 to this reporter?” Fondo asked.

“Yeah, I was not as transparent and truthful as what one would hope to be in all situations and circumstances,” Chandhok said. “But I also felt like I had a duty to protect the organization which I worked for.”

In response to questions from lead prosecutor Jason Malinsky, Chandhok also said he thought it would be “adverse” to Becker’s 2022 mayoral campaign — which the 49ers invested heavily in — if he revealed that Becker was the source of the leak.

Becker’s trial is scheduled to continue through the remainder of this into next week, with more than two dozen potential witnesses, only three of which have taken the stand so far.