Add The California Post on Google The fallout from Jed York’s alleged hunt for an Ohio trailer park hooker may be just beginning.
The California Post has learned the San Francisco 49ers owner and CEO has been booted from his role as acting chairman of the influential Silicon Valley Leadership Group following his prostitution bust — bringing fresh scrutiny on the tech-centric trade group that’s hemorrhaged millions under York’s watch.
SVLG CEO Ahmad Thomas told staff this week that York would no longer continue as acting chairman, with board member Tarkan Maner, president of AI company Nutanix, set to take over next month, a source confirmed.
York, 45, was busted Sunday allegedly using the fake name “Joe” to respond to an undercover prostitution ad. Now living with his parents in Ohio amid a divorce, York allegedly agreed to pay $160 for an hour before driving to a trailer park where cops were waiting to arrest him.
The prostitution charge was later reduced to disorderly conduct and York pleaded no contest.
SVLG originally announced York’s chairmanship would officially conclude at the end of 2025 and even held a party to honor him, but sources told The Post that he has continued functioning as acting chair. SVLG’s website still listed York as its “Chair” as of Thursday.
Multiple sources told The Post that the 49ers owner’s embarrassing arrest and exit from SVLG could open a much bigger can of worms for both York and Thomas.
Under their watch, the big tech trade group has suffered years of financial turmoil.
York became SVLG chairman in September 2020, shortly after Thomas took over as CEO — putting the two men at the top of the organization just before its finances began an ugly downward spiral.
Tax filings reviewed by The Post show SVLG lost nearly $3.85 million from 2020 through 2023, including a staggering $2.17 million in 2022 alone, when it brought in just $3.93 million while spending $6.1 million.
The years of red ink obliterated the financial cushion of the organization, whose website lists Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Tesla among its member companies.
SVLG advocates on issues such as AI and tech regulation, taxes, housing, transportation, energy and climate policy, infrastructure, education and workforce development. However, sources say that mission has been dramatically scaled back even as expenses exploded.
SVLG entered 2020 with roughly $2.8 million in net assets but finished 2023 more than $1 million underwater. It ended 2024 roughly $849,000 in the red, with $4.16 million in liabilities.
York’s oversight role was more than ceremonial, as SVLG’s own tax filings state that its board oversees the compilation of financial statements, while a board advisory committee reviews the CEO Thomas’ annual salary.
Thomas, a former investment banker and aide to late US Sen. Dianne Feinstein, received $800,000 in reportable compensation in 2022 — the same year SVLG suffered its massive $2.17 million loss.
In an apparent sign of the group’s financial strain, SVLG’s phone service was temporarily shut off earlier this year, according to one source.
York and Thomas also developed what sources described as an unusually tight relationship.
“They had a reciprocal relationship,” one source said. “It seemed to go beyond business relationships and went into friendship and having each others’ backs.”
Another source added, “I don’t know what they’re hiding, but they’re in it to win it together. They are each other’s boys.”
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Multiple sources also accused Thomas of keeping SVLG associates in the dark, saying the tech group’s CEO repeatedly refused requests for current lists of board members and member companies, bylaws, budgets and financial statements.
“The board has no idea what Ahmad is doing with the money,” one source said.
“They don’t know much debt SVLG is in and whom Ahmad has taken loans from. They don’t know what money he has received.”
In September 2025, SVLG announced what it called a “historic” $1.4 million investment from the 49ers — the largest single investment in the organization’s nearly five-decade history. York praised Thomas at the time for his “fresh, forward-thinking leadership.”
SVLG’s financial troubles, which began after former CEO Carl Guardino left the organization in good standing in 2020, may have helped sink a potentially transformative merger last year with another influential California business group.
Bay Area Council and SVLG announced in 2024 that they were exploring a merger to create what they billed as the nation’s most influential regional business organization.
The two organizations publicly gave no such explanation when ending the talks, saying only that they had decided not to proceed.
“The financials Ahmad submitted during the merger negotiations seemed to have questionable accuracy, which led to the dissolution of all negotiations,” a source familiar with the matter said.
Officials for the Bay Area Council declined The Post’s request for comment.
SVLG’s own website has continued displaying board and membership information that sources say is outdated — including its listing of York as chairman.
“It’s so hard to operate with Ahmad because he communicates like a ghost,” one source said.
Another accused Thomas of deliberately allowing outdated information to remain online.
“It’s purposefully giving the projection of financial health that is a complete lie,” the source said. “The board members listed on the website are also purposefully inaccurate. This is how he makes sure there is no transparency.”
Questions about a cratering financial situation come as Thomas has also reshuffled SVLG’s activities. Thomas told SVLG associates in July that he had stepped away from roles connected to the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation’s community races, including the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot — the largest Thanksgiving Day race in the US.
Thomas announced he was launching a separate nonprofit called the California Innovation Foundation. The move was a “seismic event,” according to one source.
“To step down from that and create a rival to your own foundation, that is a 10 on the Richter scale.”
Thomas and SVLG did not immediately respond to questions from The Post about York’s departure, the organization’s finances and allegations about its financial disclosures and governance.
Despite the millions of dollars in losses already disclosed publicly in IRS filings, one source warned the tax records may not tell the whole story of what happened under York and Thomas’ watch.
“I bet you it’s even worse than that,” a source said.
