Santa Clara: Grand jury transcripts reveal how 49ers handled leaked report

In the hours and days after Santa Clara Councilmember Anthony Becker allegedly leaked a confidential grand jury report to the San Francisco 49ers, the team and its consultants intently strategized about how to shape public opinion of its explosive details and undercut any political leverage the findings could give Mayor Lisa Gillmor, according to transcripts of the investigation obtained by this news organization.

The 850-page transcript from the March and April criminal grand jury hearings offers a detailed look into how the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report, “Unsportsmanlike Conduct,” became public days before its official release and the ensuing fallout over its expose of the cozy relationship between the team and the city council.

In April, Becker was indicted with a misdemeanor for leaking the document and felony perjury for lying about the leak.

The report criticized five Santa Clara councilmembers — Becker included — for taking regular closed-door meetings with the team and voting in favor of the NFL team’s interests over the city’s as it pertained to Levi Stadium, where the 49ers have played since 2014. It was supposed to be made public on Oct. 10, but a draft was published in several media outlets on Oct. 7.

Former 49ers spokesperson Rahul Chandhok — who recently left the team to take a job with the United States Soccer Federation — told the grand jury that Becker sent him a copy of the report on Oct. 6 via Signal, an encrypted messaging app. Chandhok then called his colleague, Ellie Caple, the 49ers’ director of communications and public affairs, asking her to contact Tim Hoekstra, one of the team’s researchers.

Chandhok wanted Hoekstra to investigate whether there was any link between civil grand jury members and Gillmor and her allies that might have created a conflict of interest in authoring the report, according to Caple’s testimony to the criminal grand jury on March 28.

“We are going to try to leak it tomorrow to take the wind out of Gillmor’s sails,” Caple texted Hoekstra on Oct. 6, according to a message presented to the criminal grand jury by Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky.

An internal memo — partly drafted by Caple and presented by Malinsky — said the 49ers believed Gillmor was going to release the report at a news conference on Oct. 10 — the day the report would officially become public and when ballots were scheduled to hit mailboxes.

At the time, Becker was challenging Gillmor’s re-election bid for mayor. The 49ers and its owner, Jed York, have dumped millions into Santa Clara elections in recent years. During the last election cycle, they spent more than $1.4 million to back Becker’s unsuccessful mayoral bid.

“It is critical to circumvent her schedule, so we recommend going to press on Friday to shape a friendlier narrative and undercut any momentum she could gain from its release,” the memo said.

The 49ers, through spokesperson Brian Brokaw, declined to comment on the transcripts since it’s an ongoing legal matter.

“The 49ers are committed to being a positive and contributing member of our community,” Brokaw said.

Maggie Carr, a partner at the public relations firm Milltown Partners, which did contract work for the 49ers last year, told the grand jury that on Oct. 6 she was part of an hours-long strategy phone call with Chandhok, Caple and several other members of the 49ers communications team.

During the call, Carr told jurors, Larry MacNeil, the team’s former CFO and current stadium compliance manager, went through the report and cited sections the 49ers believed were inaccurate. Carr also mentioned discussions around how they could “own the narrative” by giving the report to a journalist who was “friendly to the 49ers.” They identified the reporter as Ramona Giwargis, the CEO of the non-profit news outlet San Jose Spotlight.

In an emailed statement, Giwargis said she wouldn’t characterize her “reporting on the 49ers as ‘friendly,’ but rather I’d say it was fair.”

“I didn’t run stories fed to me by their opponents without giving them a fair shake,” she said.

Becker — who admitted to the leak according to testimony from Councilmember Suds Jain– referred to the report as “Lisa’s October surprise,” campaign volunteer Bruno Kirschbaum told the grand jury. The term October surprise refers to a large event happening in the weeks leading up to an election that could shape the outcome.

On Oct. 7, Becker texted someone named “Bobby Bro Becker” that he was “in the middle of the greatest battle I’ve ever faced in my life,” according to Ben Holt, a criminal investigator with the district attorney’s office who pulled messages from Becker’s phone.

Becker also texted the individual that it was “no mercy time” and the “Niners are going all out now to destroy her,” inferring the team’s target was Gillmor. Becker did not respond to a request for comment.

Holt said he didn’t find any communication between Chandhok and Becker on the councilmember’s phone and when he looked at the contact for Chandhok, it had no phone number and only an email.

Investigators also found that Becker deleted Signal — the app Chandhok said Becker used to leak the report to him — from his phone seven minutes before being interviewed by the district attorney’s office last year. When asked when he deleted the app, he told investigators “I don’t know. Sometime after the election.”

Becker also attempted to contact Chandhok through an intermediary in December, according to testimony from Chandhok, who gave a detailed account of how he obtained the report.

On or around Dec. 20, the former 49ers spokesperson received a call from Silicon Valley Voice editor-in-chief Angie Tolliver. She told him that Becker was going to give him a call from a number with a 510 area code and he wanted Chandhok to pick up. Tolliver could not be reached for comment.

Chandhok described the interaction as “unusual.” When his phone rang, he didn’t answer, but Becker left a voicemail saying, “Hey, it’s me. Give me a call back.” Chandhok instead sent him a text message saying he couldn’t speak and gave him the name and number of his attorney.

“The entire experience just felt uncomfortable, and I just didn’t want to have any part of it,” Chandhok told the grand jury. “I didn’t want anyone saying something or saying that I was on that call.”

If the councilmember is convicted of perjury, he faces four years in jail. His next court date is Aug. 2.