A group of landowners say a Silicon Valley-backed company trying to build a sustainable city northeast of San Francisco used unfair and “strong-armed” tactics to force farmers to sell their land, including pitting family members against each other, court documents show.

The details emerged on Friday as part of a lawsuit the company, Flannery Associates LLC, filed in May in District Court in Sacramento, alleging various farmers conspired to inflate the value of their land by $170 million. The landowners deny the claim and are seeking to dismiss the suit.

The latest allegations, contained in a report on a conference held by both parties in September, provide the most complete account to date of the landowners’ accusations against Flannery, which has backing from former Sequoia Capital Chairman Mike Moritz, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, among others.

The defendants say Flannery coerced farmers who didn’t want to sell to give up their land, forced property sales by evicting farmers and terminating leases, misled landowners and used the costly expense of litigation to get them to sell, according to the filing.

A Flannery spokesperson, in an email to Bloomberg, said that the company has specific evidence of price-fixing and that it’s offered reasonable settlements to individuals and is willing to settle with the remaining defendants. 

In one instance, the defendants claim, seven of eight landowners within the same family wished to continue to farm, while one wanted to sell. Flannery then allegedly employed a “divide-and-conquer” plan by purchasing the one-eighth share and suing the other seven family members to obtain the remaining shares, according to the filing.

To date, the Delaware-based company has spent about $800 million to purchase at least 52,000 acres of agricultural land, becoming the area’s biggest landowner. It is seeking $510 million in damages from the landowners, or triple the amount allegedly inflated by price fixing. 

The company’s plan to build a new city called California Forever, a walkable, green community that would create thousands of jobs, was revealed in late August by the New York Times and other media outlets. The project is led by Jan Sramek, a 36-year-old former Goldman Sachs trader. It has faced backlash from some local city leaders and politicians, who have expressed concerns over the lack of transparency in the process.

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has claimed the Lok Sabha ethics committee that is looking into the cash-for-query controversy does not have powers to examine allegations of alleged criminality. She released her response today that she had prepped to give to the committee tomorrow when she appears before them. This, Ms Moitra said, was because the “ethics committee deemed it fit to release my summons to the media…”

“… I think it is important that I too release my letter to the committee before the ‘hearing’ tomorrow,” Ms Moitra said in a post on X.

In a letter to the committee chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Ms Moitra claimed the absence of this power was deliberately kept that way by “our nation’s founders” to prevent misuse of committees by government that enjoy brute majority in parliament.

She also repeated her demand to cross-examine businessman Darshan Hiranandani. The businessman has alleged Ms Moitra took questions from him to ask in parliament, and also admitted he used Ms Moitra’s parliamentary login ID and password to post questions from Dubai – a situation, if proved, will mean a breach of privilege and lead to her suspension from parliament.

In the post on X today, Ms Moitra said the parliamentary ethics committee may not be the “appropriate forum to examine allegations of alleged criminality”.

“I wish to respectfully remind you that parliamentary committees do not have criminal jurisdiction and have no mandate to investigate alleged criminality. This can only be done by law enforcement agencies. This check was specifically created by our nation’s founders to prevent the slightest misuse of committees by governments enjoying a brute majority in parliament,” Ms Moitra said in a letter to the ethics committee chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar.

Since Ethics Committee deemed it fit to release my summons to the media I think it is important I too release my letter to the Committee before my “hearing” tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/A8MwFRsImk

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) November 1, 2023

Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, on whose complaint to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the entire case rests, was cross-examined by the ethics committee on October 26, while BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who led the call to investigate the allegation that Ms Moitra gave her parliament login ID to the businessman, was allowed to explain his allegations.

Referring to the CBI complaint, Mr Dubey had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and levelled cash-for-query allegations against Ms Moitra. The Trinamool MP has called the Supreme Court lawyer her “jilted ex”.

Ms Moitra, one of the fiercest critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, will appear before the ethics committee tomorrow. She asked the committee to ensure there is “no room for political partisanship” in their functioning.

She alleged the committee has not made any code of conduct for MPs to follow.

“It is important to note that till date the committee on ethics has not formulated any code of conduct for members and in fact the committee has not even had any sittings in the past two years. I wish to most respectfully point out that in view of the lack of a structured code of conduct, it is all the more important that each case be dealt with in an objective and fair manner…” the Trinamool Congress MP said in the letter to the ethics committee chairperson.

The ethics committee will give a report to the Lok Sabha Speaker “as early as possible”, people with direct knowledge of the matter told NDTV last week, referring to the Pawan Bansal committee that gave its report in just two weeks in December 2005 in the infamous cash-for-questions scam when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power in the centre.

A broadcast engineer working for Al Jazeera lost 19 family members in the bombing of the largest refugee camp in Gaza by Israel during their ground battle targeting Hamas operatives.

Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan, who works at the Gaza bureau, lost his father, brother, two sisters, and eight nephews and nieces among other relatives in the Israeli air raids on Jabalia camp, Al Jazeera reported, condemning what it said was a “massacre” by the Israeli forces.

Days earlier, another Al Jazeera correspondent had lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson in Israeli air raid, the report said.

Israel, which has vowed to crush Hamas, said the strike on Jabalia camp killed 47 people, including a top Hamas commander who was involved in the October 7 attack that prompted Israel to declare a war against Hamas.

Palestinian authorities claimed over 50 have died in the refugee camp bombing.

The explosion hit the densely packed Jabalia camp just before nightfall with Israel saying its warplanes had struck a tunnel complex that killed several Hamas operatives, including commander Ibrahim Biari. Hamas has denied the presence any of its leaders at the camp.

An Israeli military spokesman said Biari played a pivotal role in the planning and execution of October 7 Hamas raids into Israel in which 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

Israel has expanded its ground operatives in Gaza and ruled out any ceasefire in its war against Hamas. The war began after Hamas launched a fierce rocket on Israel on October 7 and its operatives went on a rampage in border towns, killing and kidnapping civilians.

At least 230 hostages, who were dragged across the Gaza border from Israel, are still being held captive by Hamas.

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