CLEVELAND — A former Cleveland City Council member has been sentenced to 28 months in prison after pleading guilty for wire fraud, as well as using his role for personal financial gain. 

What You Need To Know

  • Basheer Jones, 40, scammed nonprofits out of $200,000 

  • Jones also had a romantic partner who helped him in the schemes

  • He has been ordered to pay restitution along with his sentencing to local nonprofits

Court records show Basheer Jones, 40, defrauded multiple community stakeholders out of more than $200,000. From Dec. 2018 to June 2021, Basheer, who represented Ward 7, persuaded local nonprofits to enter arrangements that benefited him, as well as his partner who was also his co-conspirator.

Additionally, throughout the process, Basheer made sure his personal connection to his romantic partner wasn't revealed. 

“Mr. Jones used his position to dishonestly line his pockets with tens of thousands of dollars,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Carol M. Skutnik for the Northern District of Ohio. “He betrayed the city of Cleveland and its citizens, who elected him to serve as a leader in our community. With his deceptive actions, he also violated federal laws. Anyone who thinks they can use a public office to defraud nonprofits and obtain bribes will face consequences and pay the price for those decisions, and my office will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

Jones convinced the nonprofits to make payments toward projects, saying they were for Ward 7 revitalization projects, such as buying real estate from purported third parties. Court documents state the money instead when straight into bank accounts that Jones' partner controlled. His partner then diverted funds to herself, to Basheer and to others he chose. 

In addition, Jones convinced a nonprofit to make payments to an entity in which is partner controlled. Jones then persuaded the nonprofit to hire a consultant for community outreach, which happened to be Jones' partner, but the nonprofit didn't know. She submitted invoices to the nonprofit and was paid for it.  

The same nonprofit was then defrauded out of an additional $50,000 through his partner's consulting business.

“Public corruption at any level of government will not be tolerated. Jones abused his position of trust for personal gain while scheming against the people he was elected to serve, including non-profit entities and well-meaning leaders,” said FBI Cleveland Acting Special Agent in Charge Charles Johnston. “Elected officials who demonstrate a reckless disregard for violating the oath they swore to uphold is detestable. Today’s sentence underscores the FBIs commitment to ensuring that those who engage in fraud and corruption will be investigated and held accountable. We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to root out corruption and ensure elected officials are serving with honesty, fairness and integrity.”

Those were just some of the acts performed by Jones and his partner throughout his time as a public figure. In addition to his sentence, he was ordered to serve three years supervised release after imprisonment and pay more than $143,000 in restitution to local nonprofits.