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:
Andy Duong, left, California Waste Solutions Director, and David Duong, president and CEO of California Waste Solutions. (Bay Area News Group and Facebook)
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.
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 at Sheng Thao’s inauguration as the 51st mayor of Oakland at the Paramount Theater in Oakland in 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
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.
Oakland mayor Sheng Thao sheds tears while speaking to the media during a press conference at Oakland City Hall in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, June 24, 2024. This was the mayor’s first public appearance since her home was raided by the FBI two days ago. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
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.
