A federal judge has revoked the bail of a former San Francisco real estate investor who evaded a bench warrant for six months after being arrested in January arrest for threatening to shoot two people near his property.
Courthouse News Service reports US Magistrate Judge Lisa J. Cisneros had problems issuing her ruling on Monday because Luke Brugnara repeatedly interrupted her, yelling that she was biased and was “seizing my liberty.”
“I am excited to come to the court and win this case. I am innocent and have the presumption of innocence, and you are treating me like I am not innocent,” Brugnara told the judge. “You don’t care, you don’t give a damn whether I die.”
Brugnara was escorted out by two court marshals while still yelling at the judge.
Brugnara was charged with submitting fraudulent loan applications for federal pandemic relief programs in 2021 on behalf of his real estate investment business, Brugnara Corporation, resulting in more than $400,000 undeserved assistance. He was indicted in May 2024 on nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.
In August 2024, a judge ordered Brugnara to be released from custody with conditions that he would not commit any crimes or possess a firearm. However, last January he was arrested for possessing a firearm and threatening to shoot two people for trespassing at Thornton State Beach in Daly City, California.
Brugnara failed to show up for the February bond revocation hearing and remained on the loose until last Thursday when he attempted to flee from US Marshals and was caught climbing on the roof of a church. In court, Brugnara refuted the story of his capture, claiming the marshals never identified themselves as law enforcement.
“I am not a flight risk; the fact that I stayed within a mile of this courthouse, I was conducting my life peacefully, I was prepared to show up,” he said. “The last date I was notified of was the trial court date. I am innocent; I am not on probation.”
Brugnara’s lawyer, Matthew Dirkes of Illovsky Gates & Calia, proposed the use of an ankle monitor and $50,000 cash bond to guarantee Brugnara showed up to court. Cisneros said she consider the motion but ordered Brugnara detained. A motion from Dirkes to withdraw as Brugnara’s attorney was postponed for a later date.
Brugnara is no stranger to the courts. He pleaded guilty in making false statements and violating the Endangered Species Act in 2008, receiving a 15-month sentence. He also pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns in a separate case and received a 30-month sentence.
In June 2014, Brugnara was indicted after ordering and receiving what was alleged to be $11 million worth of art that he said was for a museum he wanted to build in San Francisco. Brugnara received five crates worth of art but refused to pay the dealer, claiming the items were a gift. Law enforcement recovered four crates, but one has yet to be retrieved. He briefly escaped from the San Francisco federal building before he went to trial and was convicted in May 2015 on two counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, one count of making false declarations to the court, escape and contempt.
Brugnara served as his own attorney and turned the proceedings into a shambles, exchanging rancorous remarks with the judge and prosecutors and being held in contempt multiple times for trying to insert inadmissible evidence into his presentations. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and was released from custody in 2021.
Two years later, he was sentenced him to more than a year in prison for violating the terms of his supervised release, including possessing a firearm that was registered to his girlfriend. He skipped his March 2023 sentencing hearing and went missing for nearly two months before being arrested in May 2023. A year later, he was transferred to a halfway house to serve the remainder of his term but escaped twice from the facility.
Photo courtesy of Luke Brugnara’s Instagram page
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