OAKLAND — Federal authorities indicted four people including former Mayor Sheng Thao on Friday, marking a stunning escalation in a sweeping grand jury inquiry that appeared to target the highest levels of the East Bay’s political scene.
The indictments capped a sprawling investigation that sprung into public view in late June with a series of raids targeting the homes of Thao, as well as the owners of California Waste Solutions, the city’s recycling contractor.
Since then, FBI agents have cast a wide net while investigating Oakland’s City Hall — a dragnet that, federal prosecutors now say, was focused on a bribery and kick-back scheme, alleged backroom election-season dealings and secret payments from the city’s recycling contractor to the then-Oakland mayor’s romantic partner.
Here’s a look at the players involved:
David Duong: The patriarch of California Waste Solutions, David Duong came with his siblings from Vietnam to start a new life — one that began with his family picking up cardboard from San Francisco’s streets to survive. He went on to build a recycling empire in Oakland and San Jose, where CWS continues to reap multi-million dollar contracts to pick up the cities’ curbside recycling.
David Duong’s contacts with Oakland go back as far as the 1990s, when the city was led by Mayor Elihu Harris, a former state senator. Duongs’ family has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to local politicians, while maintaining businesses in Vietnam, where he has led trade missions. The most recent trip came in early 2023 and included Thao, Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez and Supervisor Lena Tam, along with Port of Oakland officials and actor Danny Glover.
The indictment unsealed Friday claims that David Duong paid $75,000 to help fund a controversial mailer that targeted Thao’s political opponents just days ahead of the 2022 election.
The alleged goal: Sway the contest in Thao’s favor, ensuring that his recycling business would continue to be Oakland’s provider for curbside pickup services, and that he would have influence in the city’s staffing and political appointment decisions, the indictment said.
Federal prosecutors claimed he also was among the people who opened up their wallets to help pad the bank account of Thao’s romantic partner as part of the alleged scheme. And he was chairman of a housing company – likely Evolutionary Homes – that stood to become a new contractor with the city of Oakland once Thao moved into the mayor’s office, federal prosecutors claimed.
When Thao appeared to dither on earlier-promised plans to work with the housing company, David Duong appeared to pressure the mayor to stick to their agreement, according to the indictment which said their meeting was recorded.
“The deal is the deal,” David Duong allegedly told an unnamed co-conspirator. Duong went on to urge the co-conspirator to comply with their pre-determined deal, so that she didn’t have any “liability” or “trouble.”
“It’s not because I promise you, so yah I will go to jail for this,” Duong added. “You know that. People don’t promise and die because of their promise.”
He’s charged with conspiracy, bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and conspiracy to commit honest mail services mail fraud and honest services wire fraud. He also faces three counts of honest services mail fraud.
Andy Duong: More outgoing than his father, Andy Duong never shied away from a camera: he’s posted numerous images to social media depicting him socializing with local and national politicians, including former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, State Assemblymember Mia Bonta and the two most recent Democratic presidents.
In the process, he developed a reputation for charitable political giving. In recent years, he and his father came under investigation by the Oakland Public Ethics Commission for an alleged “straw donor” scheme accused of financially benefitting numerous politicians in City Hall.
The investigation alleged he kept a drawer full of cash while advising his father on how to funnel money to politicians he deemed friendly. While under suspicion by ethics investigators, Andy Duong took a trip to the Philippines with Attorney General Rob Bonta, whom he called his “brother.” Their relationship was such that Andy Duong once recommended his father give money to Bonta, stressing that he was someone who would “deliver whatever we ask for.”
The scion also had been linked to a karaoke club in Oakland Chinatown, where state authorities during a raid found narcotics and women suspected of being human trafficking victims.
He’s charged with conspiracy, false statement to a government agency, bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and conspiracy to commit honest mail services mail fraud and honest services wire fraud. He also faces three counts of honest services mail fraud.
Andre Jones: Jones had been dating Mayor Sheng Thao for about a decade and living with her when federal agents raided their Oakland Hills home on June 20.
The two met while working for former Oakland Councilperson Rebecca Kaplan — he as Kaplan’s chief of staff, and she as an intern. He left Kaplan’s office in September 2017 to work for the Bureau of Cannabis Control. But it remained unclear where he went to work since leaving the cannabis agency in 2021, and he’s managed to keep a low profile since the June raids.
Federal subpoenas served to Oakland city attorneys suggested he was a target of the investigation by requesting communications and calendar entries between him and Thao from June 2022 through summer 2024.
Separately, a recent court filing by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office also claimed that he received $7,500 from a local political operative — one who sent controversial mailers ahead of the November 2022 election that targeted Thao’s political rivals.
The indictment unsealed Friday claims that Jones was paid $95,000 by the Duongs and an un-named co-conspirator as part of the scheme to help Jones’ longtime partner, Thao, win election in November 2022. That scheme originally called for Jones to receive $300,000 for a “no-show job” with the housing company started by the Duongs and a political operative, named Mario Juarez.
He’s charged with conspiracy, bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud and honest services wire fraud. He also faces three counts of honest services fire fraud.
Sheng Thao: The former mayor was recalled on Nov. 5, months after the FBI raided the Oakland Hills home she shared with Jones.
In a press conference days after the raids and in multiple subsequent media interviews, Thao vehemently denied being a subject of the FBI’s inquiry — stating simply that “I want to be crystal clear: I have done nothing wrong.” In the process, she vowed that “I will not be bullied,” and insinuated that the inquiry had been tied somehow to the recall seeking her removal from office.
The federal indictment alleges that Thao agreed – once elected to the city’s highest office – to ensure the purchase of housing units from a company started by David Duong and a longtime political operative named Mario Juarez.
She also allegedly agreed to appoint a hand-picked person to a high-level city position, the indictment claims. In exchange, the Duong family would allegedly help fund a controversial election-season mailer in 2022 that would help her win the city’s mayoral election, the indictment said. Also alleged is that Jones would receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks – money that Thao then used to help her pay rent on the house they shared, federal prosecutors alleged.
She’s charged with conspiracy, bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud and honest services wire fraud. She also faces three counts of honest services fire fraud.