Former San Francisco human rights commissioner Sheryl Davis and former executive director James Spingola were arrested and charged on Monday on allegations of financial conflict of interest with city contracts, and ethical violations.
Tuesday, March 31, 2026 1:54AMFormer San Francisco human rights commissioner Sheryl Davis and former executive director James Spingola were arrested and charged on Monday on allegations of financial conflict of interest with city contracts, and ethical violations.
Davis was charged with 17 felonies and two misdemeanors in connection with a financial conflict of interest in city contracts worth more than $8.5 million, according to San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.DA Jenkins said funds from Davis' department were improperly spent, accepted gifts, and failed to disclose those gifts as required by law. Spingola was charged with four counts of aiding and abetting Davis' conflict of interest in four government contracts. Davis became the director of San Francisco Human Rights Commission in 2016. Before that, Davis was the executive director for nonprofit Collective Impact. Davis and Spingola worked together at Collective Impact, where Spingola started working in 2005, before becoming the executive director after Davis left in 2019.In July 2021, Davis and Spingola signed a contract on behalf of HRC and Collective Impact, awarding Collective Impact $1.275 million using Dream Keeper money. Dream Keeper was an initiative by then-Mayor London Breed, who reinvested $120 million in Black communities, Jenkins said. It awarded grants to community applicants. In December 2021, Davis signed another HRC contract with Collective Impact, acting as a fiscal sponsor for another nonprofit. Spingola also signed the contract. "Over the next few years, this contract was increased to nearly $1 million. This is relevant, not only due to the obvious conflict of interest, but also because as a fiscal sponsor for that nonprofit, Collective Impact, on a 12% fee for that contract, which totaled more than $100,000," said Jenkins. In 2022, HRC award Collected Impact another contract for $250,000 for technical assistance, both signed by Davis and Spingola. In 2021, Collective Impact received funds from Dream Keeper through grants for DCYF, or San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families, another department involved in the distribution of Dream Keeper funds. DA Jenkins said DCYF did not make it own funding choices, but was advised by Davis on how to distribute the funds, without input from DCYF staff. Davis told DCYF to give $1.5 million of the $3.1 million to Collective Impact.DA Jenkins also added that the personal finances of Davis and Spingola were intertwined. She said they have lived together since 2015, have multiple shared bank accounts at two banks. Jenkins said Spangola also wrote monthly rent checks from the bank account where his Collective Impact paychecks were deposited.Records also show that while working at HRC, Davis had financial control over Collective Impact as a signatory on the nonprofit's bank account, signing checks. "She authorized reimbursements to herself and authorized payment of Human Rights Commission expenses with Collective Impact funds," Jenkins said. Davis also had direct benefits to her son from two organizations receiving Dream Keeper money, including the Homeless Children's Network, according to Jenkins. HCN received millions of Dream Keeper money in several contracts. While Davis was signing certain contracts, HCN paid her son $140,000 as an independent contractor."Most important is that at its core this is a case in which the city hand picked Dr. Davis from Collective Impact due to her experience and connections in the business of helping SF's black community. They provided her with no guidance about transitioning into government bureaucracy and asked her to develop a robust system to help those in need to advance not only individuals but San Francisco as a city where the black community could thrive. It was not only obvious that Dr. Davis would have conflicts of interest with Collective Impact but was also something she informed the City Attorney about. She asked for financial supervision, she asked for internal audits and when no one responded, she actually went to Board of Supervisors to ask for funding so that she could staff these positions. This means that she was asking for MORE transparency not less. For the city to respond with a felony prosecution after 2 years is disappointing. Dr. Davis has cooperated in every way with this investigation, voluntarily giving very frank and candid interviews to city agencies.""James Spingola is presumed innocent under the law and I have confidence in our justice system. I have not seen the evidence against him, so I am not able to say more."Former San Francisco human rights commissioner Sheryl Davis was charged on allegations of financial conflict of interest.
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