A 39-year-old San Francisco man was convicted in federal court this week of fraud and money laundering after a seven-day trial.

Colin Jackson was a bit player in a wider web of crimes that officials said were orchestrated  by Jose Badillo, a renegade towing operator, officials said.

Federal prosecutors told jurors that Jackson and another defendant defrauded an insurance company in 2017 and 2018 out of more than $50,000 by filing bogus claims on inoperable, wrecked cars. 

Jackson’s conviction was the 12th tied to Operation Hammer Down, the probe federal investigators launched against Badillo, the former owner of several Bay Area towing companies, officials from the Department of Justice said in a news release.

Badillo’s auto fraud was just part of a wide web of criminal misconduct that drew the attention of a federal task force, as well as official sanctions by the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office and local charges by the district attorney’s office for welfare fraud.

But it wasn’t until 2024 that Badillo’s companies, including Specialty Towing, gained widespread notoriety after a viral video captured one of Specialty Towing’s trucks trying to grab and tow an occupied car sitting in traffic. 

Badillo and his co-conspirators filed dozens of fraudulent claims, ultimately bilking insurance companies out of more than $1.5 million, prosecutors said.

As part of the broader fraud scheme, Badillo loaded wrecked vehicles onto a vehicle carrier and intentionally drove it off a road in San Mateo in 2019, then filed insurance claims on the cars.

In that case, the insurance company denied the claim, believing it was fraudulent, but still paid one of Badillo’s towing companies for towing and storing vehicles involved in the bogus accident. 

Separately, prosecutors also accused Badillo and other members of his crew of torching six of his competitors’ tow trucks over five months in 2023.

When Badillo was charged in 2025, prosecutors said the arsons were intended to drive more business to Badillo’s towing companies, Auto Towing and Specialty Towing, by impeding his competitors’ businesses and retaliating against them for perceived wrongs.

Of the 12 people charged in the federal probe, eight have already been sentenced, including Badillo, who was hit with a five-year sentence in February. 

Jackson faces a maximum sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison, though he is likely to face a much lower sentence because of federal guidelines.