Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Exposed for Investing in Company That Makes Products in China, Byron Georgiou Drops Out of Senate Race

Byron Georgiou
Byron Georgiou

Former San Diegan, ex–congressional candidate, and onetime Jerry Brown aide Byron Georgiou set out with high hopes and a sizable cash war chest from wealthy La Jolla Democrats earlier this year when he attempted to win a U.S. Senate seat in his adopted state of Nevada. That was before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid forced him out of the primary in favor of the local Democratic establishment’s favorite for the job, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Shelley Berkley, Harry Reid

Reid had appointed Georgiou to the federal government’s Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, where he received lots of favorable publicity investigating the Wall Street meltdown. But after Georgiou got into the senate race, Reid said he wished he’d never made the appointment. Others cited Georgiou’s history as a securities litigator with Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, which represents big pension funds in cases against Goldman Sachs and other banks targeted by the commission. The roots of the law firm grew from the downtown San Diego practice of Georgiou’s old friend and legal associate, La Jolla lawyer Bill Lerach, who ended up copping a plea and doing time in federal prison on a client kickback rap. “Given Byron Georgiou’s financial history, and the ethical concerns raised regarding his tenure at the FCIC, Senator Reid regrets appointing him to the commission,” a Reid spokesman said in June. State union leaders launched a separate front, claiming that Georgiou had invested in a company that made products in China. The Las Vegas Review-Journal called it all a “smear campaign,” but after some brief resistance, Georgiou dropped out in August. (Berkley has since run into problems of her own. An investigation by the New York Times over the summer questioned her close involvement in proposed legislation that would affect her physician husband’s troubled kidney care program at University Medical Center in Las Vegas.)

As we reported in June, before Reid opened fire, Georgiou had collected $1,073,907, $500,000 of which he donated himself. Lerach’s wife Michelle Ciccarelli, an attorney who runs La Jolla’s trendy Cups cupcake shop, contributed, as did Georgiou’s old congressional foe, ex-congresswoman Lynn Schenk and husband C. Hugh Friedman. Even after the going got tough in Nevada, Georgiou was raking in money from his rich La Jolla base and beyond. In late June, Robert Cunningham of Cunningham Development and Tim Kelleher of Silver Canyon Partners, both of Rancho Santa Fe, each gave $2500. Georgiou also received sizable support from Greek Americans and fellow lawyers in various other parts of the country.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Next Article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Byron Georgiou
Byron Georgiou

Former San Diegan, ex–congressional candidate, and onetime Jerry Brown aide Byron Georgiou set out with high hopes and a sizable cash war chest from wealthy La Jolla Democrats earlier this year when he attempted to win a U.S. Senate seat in his adopted state of Nevada. That was before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid forced him out of the primary in favor of the local Democratic establishment’s favorite for the job, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Shelley Berkley, Harry Reid

Reid had appointed Georgiou to the federal government’s Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, where he received lots of favorable publicity investigating the Wall Street meltdown. But after Georgiou got into the senate race, Reid said he wished he’d never made the appointment. Others cited Georgiou’s history as a securities litigator with Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, which represents big pension funds in cases against Goldman Sachs and other banks targeted by the commission. The roots of the law firm grew from the downtown San Diego practice of Georgiou’s old friend and legal associate, La Jolla lawyer Bill Lerach, who ended up copping a plea and doing time in federal prison on a client kickback rap. “Given Byron Georgiou’s financial history, and the ethical concerns raised regarding his tenure at the FCIC, Senator Reid regrets appointing him to the commission,” a Reid spokesman said in June. State union leaders launched a separate front, claiming that Georgiou had invested in a company that made products in China. The Las Vegas Review-Journal called it all a “smear campaign,” but after some brief resistance, Georgiou dropped out in August. (Berkley has since run into problems of her own. An investigation by the New York Times over the summer questioned her close involvement in proposed legislation that would affect her physician husband’s troubled kidney care program at University Medical Center in Las Vegas.)

As we reported in June, before Reid opened fire, Georgiou had collected $1,073,907, $500,000 of which he donated himself. Lerach’s wife Michelle Ciccarelli, an attorney who runs La Jolla’s trendy Cups cupcake shop, contributed, as did Georgiou’s old congressional foe, ex-congresswoman Lynn Schenk and husband C. Hugh Friedman. Even after the going got tough in Nevada, Georgiou was raking in money from his rich La Jolla base and beyond. In late June, Robert Cunningham of Cunningham Development and Tim Kelleher of Silver Canyon Partners, both of Rancho Santa Fe, each gave $2500. Georgiou also received sizable support from Greek Americans and fellow lawyers in various other parts of the country.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

March is typically windy, Sage scents in the foothills

Butterflies may cross the county
Next Article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.