Federal Agents Search Beverly Hills Home Linked to Former Congressman Eric Swalwell

Federal law enforcement agents searched a home in suburban Los Angeles early on Tuesday as part of an investigation into former Congressman Eric Swalwell, according to a law enforcement official and two people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Associated Press. All three asked not to be named because they were discussing an ongoing probe.

The property is the Beverly Hills residence of Stephen Cloobeck, a wealthy developer and donor to Swalwell. According to the sources, the Democratic former lawmaker spent time at the home before he resigned from office in April. Swalwell has denied any criminal wrongdoing. Messages left for his attorney, and for a lawyer who represented Cloobeck in a separate matter, did not immediately receive replies.

Cloobeck founded the timeshare company Diamond Resorts International. In April, he told the New York Post that he had severed ties with Swalwell as the accusations grew. "I am no longer associated with a man that takes advantage of women," he said. "I support women's rights."

An FBI spokesperson, Lourdes Arocho, confirmed that the bureau "early this morning" conducted an operation in the Los Angeles region tied to an ongoing criminal investigation. She added: "We have no further comment."

The search marks the latest escalation in a federal inquiry that is one of several launched after a woman came forward alleging that Swalwell sexually assaulted her twice, including while she worked for him. The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the allegations, followed by CNN. CNN also reported that three other women accused him of various forms of sexual misconduct, including sending unsolicited explicit messages or nude photos.

In August, federal agents seized electronic devices from Swalwell at San Francisco airport and searched his home in Washington DC. Separately, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has said it is investigating after a former staffer told CNN and the Chronicle that Swalwell raped her at a New York hotel in 2024, when he was in the city for a charity gala. Bragg's office urged "survivors and anyone with knowledge of these allegations" to contact its special victims division. Los Angeles prosecutors were also reported to be weighing charges.

Swalwell, a native of Iowa, was first elected in 2012 and represented a House district east of San Francisco. He ran briefly for president in 2019 but ended that bid after a few months without gaining traction with voters. Before the allegations emerged, the seven-term lawmaker had been viewed as one of the leading contenders in California's race for governor, and he dropped out after they surfaced.

In Congress, he was among Donald Trump's most vocal critics. He sat on the House judiciary and intelligence committees during Trump's first term and served as one of several Democratic prosecutors in Trump's second impeachment after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

In 2023, then House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, removed Swalwell from the intelligence committee over his contact with Christine Fang, a suspected Chinese spy. Fang was reported to have approached his campaign during his first run for Congress in 2012 and to have helped raise funds for his 2014 campaign. Federal investigators alerted Swalwell to their concerns and briefed Congress in 2015, and he says he cut off contact then. He was not accused of wrongdoing, and a House ethics investigation opened in 2021 closed two years later without action.