REDWOOD CITY — Prosecutors painted a former chancellor of the San Mateo County Community College District as greedy, claiming that he accepted lavish gifts and travel in exchange for directing lucrative construction contract to his friends’ firms, while his defense presented him as a selfless public servant innocent of most of the charges levied against him as a trial that is expected to last several months began.

The attorneys presented the overviews of their arguments Wednesday to a jury that will consider 27 charges of tax code violations, misuse of public funds, conflict of interest, perjury and embezzlement against Ron Galatolo — bridging actions taken in both a private capacity and as a public official. He was indicted by a grand jury last year after months of delays in preliminary hearings. The trial is being overseen by San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Leland Davis III.

San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Joseph Cannon alleged that Galatolo received gifts such as first class plane tickets to Dubai, Super Bowl 50 tickets and luxury boxes for concerts and other sporting events.

“This is a case about greed, this is a case about dishonesty and this is a case about corruption,” Cannon said. “The evidence will definitely show the defendant has a taste for expensive things.”

Charles J. Smith III, Galatolo’s defense attorney, disputed Cannon’s characterization, stating that Galatolo “never misused” any funds and that “the chosen contractor used all the public funds — every single penny.” Smith also raised issue with the secrecy of the grand jury hearing that preceded the indictment and raised concerns that a key witness was promised probation for his charges following his testimony.

“The evidence is going to destroy that false betrayal of this dedicated public servant,” Smith said. “Galatolo is a larger than life leader. … He inspired both loyalty and resentment.”

Galatolo served as chancellor of the district from 2001 to 2019, then was employed as chancellor emeritus for an additional two years before his termination, Cannon said. As chancellor, he was paid more than $400,000 per year. The corruption investigation into Galatolo was triggered by a 2019 whistleblower complaint.

Cannon alleged that Galatolo had a conflict of interest and redirected multiple building contracts — for the construction of the Canada College solar project and Building 23 — to construction firms of people he had prior relationships with, by rejecting the selection committee’s choice and coordinating a change to the scores they had assigned to the potential firms. He cited text messages that Galatolo sent to one of the principals at the firm that won a $1.5 million contract congratulating him.

“All of that, as the evidence will show, is in violation of the law,” Cannon said.

In exchange, Cannon claimed, these firms provided Galatolo with gifts ranging from bottles of wine and drones to tickets to Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium and a Kanye West concert — and even a helicopter trip in the Himalayas. The chancellor was limited to a maximum monetary value of gifts of between $400 and $490 depending on the year, Cannon added.

But Smith pointed out that, in the year one of the firms received a $4 million construction contract, the only gift they gave to Galatolo was a $48 bottle of wine and a $126 lunch.

“The evidence will show that Ron never failed to disclose a gift,” Smith said, adding that gifts that are reciprocated between two people and gifts in existing personal relationships are not required to be reported. In the case of the Super Bowl, for instance, Galatolo reciprocated the tickets by bringing $1,000 worth of wine.

Cannon added that Galatolo’s ex-wife, who was set to testify in the trial, oversaw the family’s finances and said she had raised concerns to Galatolo about how he was attending these lavish events and travels. He responded, Cannon said, with a catchphrase he would use often: “It’s good to be king.”

Two of the charges pertain to Galatolo claiming — on his personal tax return — a $10,000 donation made by the SMCCD to the Santa Rosa Junior College Relief Fund following the 2017 Tubbs Fire, which Smith said was true but an honest mistake.

“For all the years the district attorney combed through the tax returns, they only found one instance,” Smith said. “The letter from Santa Rosa was made out to him personally. He made a mistake.”

Cannon also alleged that Galatolo used more than $45,000 in district funds to hire an attorney to represent himself in mediation for a contract dispute with SMCCD, breaking up the payments into small enough increments that the invoices would not need to go to the board of trustees for approval. Smith said Galatolo did that with permission and precedent of the district previously hiring legal counsel for its employees.

In his personal life, Galatolo is also accused of falsely reporting the purchase prices of two vehicles to the Department of Motor Vehicles — reporting the $50,000 purchase of a 1963 Corvette as $2,500 and the $25,000 purchase of a 2006 Chevy Super Sports Roadster as $1,000, which allowed him to evade $10,000 in DMV registration fees, Cannon said.

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Prosecutors also contend that he did not claim income from a rental property he owned in Maui for multiple years on his tax returns, stating that he had a series of lease agreements with tenants and a series of cash deposits that were consistent with rental income, Cannon said. Smith said that no taxes were due in one of the cases mentioned, and that the other was an honest mistake.

Smith implored the jury to “keep an open mind” as the trial begins.

“This has been, and we will be showing you, a flawed, political prosecution,” he added.