An ex-California state senator has pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge in an organized crime and public corruption case centred in San Francisco's Chinatown.
Leland Yee entered the plea on Wednesday and could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in October.
The FBI arrested Yee and 19 others in 2014 during a series of raids, one of which targeted a Chinese fraternal organization.
Yee was accused of soliciting and accepting bribes in exchange for providing help from the state capital, Sacramento.
The FBI also alleged that the Democrat conspired to connect an undercover agent with an international arms dealer in exchange for campaign contributions.
Yee previously pleaded not guilty to bribery, money laundering and other felony charges.
His arrest and others were the culmination of the FBI's eight-year investigation of Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, the elected "dragonhead" of a Chinese-American association called Ghee Kung Tong. The FBI alleges the association was a racketeering enterprise and that undercover agents laundered $2.6 million in cash from illegal bookmaking through the organization.
Chow has pleaded not guilty to money laundering and other charges.
Yee also discussed helping an undercover FBI agent get weapons worth $500,000 to $2.5 million, including shoulder-fired missiles, and explaining the entire process of acquiring them, from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines to bringing them to the U.S., according to an FBI affidavit.
Yee said he was unhappy with his life and told the agent he wanted to hide out in the Philippines, the FBI affidavit says.
The agent who discussed arms with Yee allegedly presented himself as a member of Ghee Kung Tong
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.