Former 49ers executive faces bribery charges in San Mateo County

Jim Mercurio, a longtime San Francisco 49ers executive whose management of Levi’s Stadium included accusations of improprieties, faces charges he and another man embezzled $1.4 million in an alleged kickback scheme in San Mateo County.

Mercurio and Michael McLennan each face 20 charges of commercial bribery, two charges of misappropriating public funds, one charge of embezzlement and four counts of aggravated white-collar crime enhancement, according to court records. The district attorney’s office filed the indictment last week in San Mateo County Superior Court.

The charges stem from construction projects involving county funds. The DA’s office alleged Mercurio, 55, directed contracts to McLennan, a childhood friend who then gave a portion of the money back to Mercurio, according to media reports.

Mercurio, who was one of nearly 30 employees laid off by the 49ers in 2023, started working for the San Mateo County Event Center in 2024.

Mercurio spent nearly three decades with the 49ers dating to April 1994, according to his LinkedIn page. He climbed to director of stadium operations in 2004, when the team played at Candlestick Park, and later became vice president of stadium operations in 2009.

He assumed a similar position when the 49ers moved to Levi’s Stadium in 2014, ultimately rising to executive vice president and general manager of the stadium. The team operates publicly owned Levi’s Stadium under contract with the city of Santa Clara; the 49ers and the city have clashed for years over stadium finances.

Mercurio also worked for the NFL as a consultant on Super Bowl security issues, records show. In 2021, he won a “distinguished leadership” award from an organization that promotes stadium safety and security.

But as manager of a publicly owned stadium, Mercurio was subject to laws that apply to public officials, and people who encountered him in Santa Clara said that posed a challenge.

In 2019, after an exposé on a local news website, the 49ers acknowledged Mercurio owned stock in two software companies that were doing business with the 49ers at the stadium. The team denied Mercurio’s investments violated conflict-of-interest laws, but it required him to sell his stock at no profit.

The team also paid the city $52,000, the amount of public funds previously paid to one of the companies. The state Fair Political Practices Commission fined Mercurio $2,000.

Also in 2019, the city contended in a lawsuit that Mercurio and the 49ers violated multiple state and city laws in connection with a $650,000 reflooring project at the stadium. City auditors claimed Mercurio failed to get city approval of the project, failed to put it out for competitive bids and underpaid project workers, all illegal violations.

The 49ers again denied wrongdoing, but the team gave the city a refund of the public funds spent on the flooring project and picked up the entire cost of the project.

Mercurio and McLennan appeared in court Monday. Their next hearing was scheduled for Nov. 16.

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This article originally published at Former 49ers executive faces bribery charges in San Mateo County.