Fresno DA Smittcamp confirms FBI probe in connection with city’s Granite Park operations
In a news release announcing no criminal charges would be filed against Fresno city councilmembers on Thursday, District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp also confirmed an FBI investigation tied to a 2019 audit of Granite Park.
Smittcamp provided few details but said her office “handed over” an investigation to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office sometime after the probe launched in 2019. Smittcamp did not say exactly when her office turned the case over to federal authorities.
“At present, it is the understanding of the District Attorney’s Office that the Federal investigation is still ongoing and active,” Smittcamp said in a news release Tuesday.
Both the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI responded early Wednesday, citing longstanding policies to neither confirm nor deny the existence of any investigation.
“If you are seeking clarification or details about Ms. Smittcamp’s comments, it would be best to reach out to her,” an FBI spokesperson said in an email to The Bee.
Smittcamp said federal authorities wanted to handle the investigation because “one of the potential involved parties was a sitting Congressman in the United States House of Representatives,” referring to former U.S. Rep. TJ Cox, who was in office in 2019.
Cox’s former business partner Terance Frazier, a local developer whose nonprofit operates Granite Park, has maintained since 2019 that he did nothing wrong. Frazier said, since 2019, he has not been contacted by any law enforcement agency regarding the operations of Granite Park.
Granite Park audit
The controversy over Granite Park began in 2019 when an unfinished city audit found a number of problems with the accounting of park finances under one of Frazier’s nonprofits.
At the time, his business partner was Cox. Frazier’s romantic partner is Councilmember Esmeralda Soria, who recuses herself from any discussion regarding the issue.
Since then, Fresno City Attorney Doug Sloan made public statements saying Frazier didn’t violate an agreement with the city, and former Mayor Lee Brand even defended a proposal to give Frazier more money to operate the park.
Meanwhile, Frazier said the city wasn’t paying him enough money to properly maintain the park. He also filed a claim for damages and eventually a lawsuit claiming the city discriminated against him. He’s Black, and city officials have not treated white developers the same way, he alleged. The case remains ongoing.
No contact with investigators
Over time, both Frazier and Cox have opened up about the issue, agreeing to do multiple lengthy interviews with The Bee and providing accounting records they say negate allegations in the audit.
Furthermore, Frazier said no federal investigator has contacted him once about Granite Park operations.
Frazier provided to The Bee email correspondence between him and the state attorney general’s office.
In a March 2019 letter, the attorney general’s office informed Frazier’s Central Valley Community Sports Foundation board that the office was conducting an audit of the nonprofit. The letter sought financial statements, invoices, contracts, and more, which Frazier said he provided.
By June 2021, Frazier said he had not heard back from the attorney general’s office. He followed up via email, which he also provided to The Bee.
A deputy attorney general responded to him, saying:
“ I forwarded your email, but you should know that the AG’s Office won’t provide information about the status of investigations or audits. That is actually for your protection. We don’t want to release information into the public realm that could damage an organization’s reputation when there’s actually nothing wrong.
“On the other hand, we don’t want to make statements that could be seen as a stamp of approval of any organization’s operations (it could be misused for fundraising and give a false sense of security that the organization won’t be audited again). If the audit raised serious questions, you will be contacted for more information and/or with instructions for correction. Otherwise, you’ll probably never hear anything from this office.”
Politically motivated?
Kevin Little, Frazier’s attorney, noted Tuesday after Smittcamp’s news release that the FBI and state attorney general’s office have a longstanding policy of not confirming investigations. He questioned why Smittcamp would reveal she knows about an investigation.
“Either she is a participant in that investigation and is indulging facts without permission, or she’s admitting to unethical conduct on behalf of some federal participant in that investigation,” Little said, calling Smittcamp’s statement laughable.
Smittcamp could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Little said the audit and district attorney’s statements serve a political purpose.
“Granite Park runs more cheaply than any other parks here in the city of Fresno and is used by more people than any park facility here in the city of Fresno,” he said. “The city doesn’t want Granite Park back because they know they could not run it for the same price.”
Instead, city officials would rather sell the park, which now has a much higher assessment value since Frazier’s nonprofit has made a number of improvements.
Frazier said the controversy around Granite Park has made it extremely difficult for him to do business in Fresno.
“They make me seem like a criminal,” Frazier said in an interview with The Bee earlier this month. “I can’t do anything in the city of Fresno, and I don’t think it’s fair.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 8:39 PM.