Aiello allegedly received an unusually favorable home mortgage from a Seeno business associate, but Sepulveda has decided that there was no evidence to prosecute him for a felony. Instead, he passed Aiello's case onto the California Fair Political Practices Commission, which is deciding whether to fine the former mayor in the future.

Quesada's financial ties to the controversial real estate magnate were, according to court documents, much more involved and stretch back to 1980, when Frank and Eleanor Quesada rented space from Seeno for a Mexican restaurant. The court documents show a series of mounting debts both from the failing restaurant and the couple's home, which they also rented from Seeno Associates.

The debts were allegedely written off and added to a running loan that the couple maintained with Seeno, beginning with an initial loan of $68,777 in 1982, at a whopping annual interest rate of 18.5%. "There was absolutely nothing illegal about these loans,'' says Sepulveda. "He was not given favorable terms on the loans.''