SAN LEANDRO — Beyond declaring his innocence, San Leandro City Councilmember Bryan Azevedo hasn’t spoken publicly about the FBI raid last week at his home that for the first time expanded a wide-reaching corruption investigation beyond Oakland.
But the allegations that have emerged in felony charges of bribery and conspiracy against ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, her romantic partner Andre Jones and father-son business associates David and Andy Duong may now cast the Jan. 15 San Leandro raid in a new light.
Azevedo has not been accused of wrongdoing, though federal prosecutors promised last Friday that their investigation is ongoing while announcing charges against Thao, Jones and the Duongs. The four defendants in Oakland saw their addresses raided in similar fashion by federal agents last June. They’ve all pleaded not guilty.
The timeline of events in San Leandro provides some parallels to the alleged corruption scandal to the north.
Both Oakland and San Leandro officials had entertained overtures in 2023 from the Duong family’s homebuilding company, which had sought to secure a deal to build local housing through the cities’ emergency policies for homelessness.
In Oakland, Thao is accused of accepting bribes from the Duongs in the form of political favors and $95,000 for Jones, in exchange for promising a lucrative housing contract, handpicked city leadership appointments and a future renewed deal for the family’s flagship recycling business, California Waste Solutions.
The FBI raided the home of San Leandro councilman Bryan Azevedo in San Leandro, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. Azevedo was among several officials who visited Vietnam two years ago alongside targets of an ongoing corruption investigation in the East Bay. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
In San Leandro, no deals were ever inked between the city and California Waste Solutions or the Duongs’ homebuilding company, Evolutionary Homes.
Azevedo, though, appears to have had a friendly relationship with Andy Duong, who invited the councilmember on a group trip to Vietnam, paid for by a trade organization led by Duong family members, according to city records.
The family also donated about $5,000 to Azevedo’s election campaigns, both directly and through a business entity.
Azevedo was among multiple council members in late 2023 who toured Evolutionary Homes’ showroom on the Oakland waterfront, where the Duongs and co-founder Mario Juarez were preparing to sell tiny housing units built out of shipping containers and priced at $300,000 a piece.
“My thought was, this was a great concept,” Councilman Victor Aguilar, who toured the showroom, said in an interview. “And providing homes for San Leandro is something that aligns with our priorities and what we’re advocating for.”
Aguilar, who says he has never received money from the Duong family, called the alleged bribery scheme in Oakland “baffling,” saying it “wouldn’t fly” in San Leandro “because we have a lot of checks and balances in our city.”
Azevedo, who has declined several interview requests, did so again Thursday from inside his San Leandro home.
“I do want to explain my story — I just can’t at this time,” he said. “As soon as I’m able to, I will.”
California Waste Solutions co-owner Andy Duong exits the Federal Building after appearing at the Federal Courthouse in Oakland, Calif., for his indictment on bribery and conspiracy charges by federal prosecutors on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
In Oakland, Thao allegedly floated the idea of using the city’s “emergency powers to make it easier to buy the housing units on behalf of Oakland, without needing to use a competitive bidding process,” according to her indictment.
Meanwhile in San Leandro, an Evolutionary Homes representative appears to have pitched city officials on declaring a state of emergency on homelessness, clearing the bureaucratic path for the company to sell tiny homes directly to those cities.
San Leandro city leaders ultimately decided against declaring a state of emergency, with the majority agreeing at a council meeting last June that the Alameda County Board of Supervisors were better equipped to make such a decision.
The lone pair of dissenters in the 5-2 vote were Aguilar and Azevedo.
Meanwhile, it doesn’t appear that the Duong family’s primary business, California Waste Solutions, became a serious contender for the city’s garbage-and-recycling contract when officials in 2023 began exploring the future of its trash-handling services.
Another suitor, Waste Management, made its interest known to the city during that brief window. But the council ultimately voted unanimously last summer to extend a longstanding relationship with a homegrown trash company based in town, Alameda County Industries.
The new contract, which begins next month and lasts until February 2035, is projected to gross about $26.8 million annually for Alameda County Industries in ratepayer revenue.
It’s unclear if the Duongs ever formally introduced themselves as a party of interest for the garbage deal. Ahead of the council’s vote on a new deal last summer, Mayor Juan Gonzalez III disclosed that he had received campaign contributions from Alameda County Industries.
At the same meeting, Azevedo said he received money from the company as well: a check for $1,000.
“But I returned it,” Azevedo noted. “I didn’t accept it.”
Indictments against Thao and her alleged co-conspirators do not mention Azevedo. The evidence leans on internal text-message conversations between the Duongs and an alleged accomplice that lay out a plan to bribe the ex-Oakland mayor for access to public money.
Azevedo, a sheet-metal foreman by trade, was elected to a second term on the San Leandro council last November by fewer than 500 votes. It’s unclear how he came to know Andy Duong, who famously has a penchant for befriending Bay Area politicians.
In a July 2023 content package titled “Vietnam” on Duong’s Instagram page, the East Bay delegation can be seen enjoying drinks. In one video, Azevedo raises his glass of wine and leads the group in shouting, “Cheers!”
Gonzalez, the mayor, made clear in an interview that Azevedo’s trip was not sponsored by the city, saying he knew nothing about the councilmember’s relation to the investigation.
“Let’s let it evolve,” Gonzalez said, “because it may turn out that he himself has done nothing wrong, but he may have access to certain information.”
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland who can be reached via call or text at 510-905-5495, or via email at shomik@bayareanewsgroup.com.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter who can be reached via call, text or a Signal encrypted message at 510-390-2351, or via email at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
