The FBI searched a Beverly Hills mansion in connection with an investigation into former Rep. Eric Swalwell, according to two people familiar with the probe. The home is owned by a Swalwell donor, one of the people said.
CNN has reached out to the FBI and a lawyer for Swalwell for comment.
Swalwell has been the subject of federal and state investigations.
The Democrat resigned from Congress and dropped his gubernatorial bid in April after reporting from CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle detailed allegations of sexual misconduct, including one former staffer who said he had raped her.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department opened criminal investigations into Swalwell in the wake of the reporting.
In August, federal agents seized electronic devices from Swalwell at the San Francisco airport and then raided his home in Washington, DC, the next day as part of an ongoing probe connected to sexual assault allegations, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN at the time.
We have done extensive reporting on Swalwell’s criminal rise to power at the StoneZONE.
Swalwell first entered politics through the Dublin City Council, a suitably modest launching pad for a career that would later become a monument to immodesty. In 2012 he challenged veteran Democratic Congressman Fortney Pete Stark, one of the more eccentric and abrasive old bulls of the House. Stark was not always graceful, but he was unmistakably real. He was cantankerous, unvarnished, often undisciplined, and entirely himself.
Swalwell did not merely run against Pete Stark. He attacked Stark on residency grounds. He made an issue of whether Stark truly lived in the district, whether he genuinely maintained a domicile there, whether he authentically belonged among the people he purported to represent.
Years later, extensive coverage erupted over Swalwell’s own domicile, his own residency, his own connection to California, and his own mortgage documents tied to Washington. The very cudgel he once used against Pete Stark came flying back toward his own forehead.
When Swalwell sought the governorship of California, his eligibility became the subject of scrutiny and challenge amid allegations that he did not in fact maintain the sort of California domicile the office required. Questions swirled around his life in Washington, his use of a District of Columbia residence, and mortgage paperwork that reportedly described him as a DC resident.
Then came Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang, and with her one of the most delicious reversals in recent American political life. Axios reported that a suspected Chinese intelligence operative cultivated relationships with local and national politicians in California between 2011 and 2015, and that Swalwell was among those in her orbit. Fang fundraised, networked, attended events, and sought proximity to rising political figures. Swalwell later said he was shocked when the FBI briefed him and that he cut off contact.
The event that finally brought Eric Swalwell down was not the Fang scandal, not the residency embarrassment, and not his long record of sanctimony. It was the eruption of serious allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual assault during his gubernatorial campaign in 2026. According to reports cited by the Associated Press and Reuters, a former staffer accused Swalwell of sexually assaulting her on two occasions, including one alleged incident in a New York hotel in 2024 when she said she was too intoxicated to consent. CNN also reported additional allegations from other women, including claims involving unsolicited explicit messages or photos and other inappropriate conduct. Swalwell denied the most serious accusations. Reuters reported that he called them “absolutely false.” He also publicly acknowledged what he called “mistakes in judgment.” But by then the political avalanche had already begun.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s (DA) office opened an investigation into one of the alleged assaults. The House Ethics Committee opened a probe as well. Over fifty former staffers reportedly called for his resignation. The same political class that had once treated Swalwell as a youthful lion of the resistance began to treat him as if he were radioactive waste in a tailored suit.
On April 13, 2026, Swalwell announced that he would resign from Congress. Unfortunately for the former Congressman, that won’t likely keep him away from consequences for his crimes.
We will keep you updated on the corruption scandal involving Swalwell as it unwinds.
