Michael Rubio's purchase of home El Dorado Hills financed by oil executive Majid Mojibi could be part of Investigation

 Rubio has taken a job with oil giant Chevron as head of California governmental affairs, and Gov. Jerry Brown will call a special election to fill the remaining two years of Rubio's term.

The Sacramento Bee reported Thursday that the Fair Political Practices Commission is deciding whether to open an investigation into two of Rubio's real estate dealings with oil executive Majid Mojibi, president of San Joaquin Refining Co. Inc.

Eyewitness News called both Rubio and Mojibi on Thursday but hasn't heard back.

Mojibi loaned Rubio money to buy a $681,000 home in El Dorado Hills, about a half hour east of Sacramento, according to the Bee. That deal was conducted through another company registered to Mojibi, DCM Assets Management, the newspaper reported.

Rubio told Bee reporter Torey Van Oot that Mojibi gave him a "market-rate" 6 percent loan to purchase the large, luxury home in El Dorado County. Rubio later relinquished ownership of the house to DCM Assets Management and started renting it for $3,000 a month, according to the Sacramento newspaper.

That was the second and more-recent of two deals under scrutiny.

Rubio worked with Mojibi on the El Dorado Hills house, because Rubio couldn't get a conventional loan after going through a short sale on a Bakersfield home in 2010, the Bee reported.

The former lawmaker had to move from his much-smaller Bakersfield home, 320 Quincy St., during his 2010 Senate campaign after discovering the house wasn't in the proper district.

Rubio and Mojibi also worked with each other on the Bakersfield real estate transaction. Mojibi bought the home for $185,000 for a family member, even though it was only valued on at least one real estate website at less than $100,000, according to the Bee report.

Rubio told the Bee that neither he nor Mojibi benefited unfairly from either real estate deal, either in the form of money or political favors, the Bee reported.

"Regardless of his occupation, I consider him family and a very close friend," Rubio told the Sacramento newspaper. "That's who he is in my life."

The Bee also reported that Mojibi has donated more than $14,000 to Rubio's Senate campaign.

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/Report-Dealings-between-Michael-Rubio-oil-exec-could-be-investigated-193954391.html