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Ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao indicted on bribery charges

A man in a suit speaks at a podium with the Department of Justice emblem. There's a blue curtain background and several microphones in view.
Robbins, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of California, spoke at a press conference detailing the indictment announcement of ex-Mayor of Oakland Sheng Thao on Friday. | Source: Morgan Ellis/The Standard

Sheng Thao, who was ousted as Oakland mayor in a recall election in November, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on bribery charges, along with her boyfriend Andre Jones and two brothers from the powerful Duong family, owners of California Waste Solutions.

Federal prosecutors said Thao received kickbacks from the Duongs in exchange for political favors. Those included paying for a negative mailer campaign and $95,000 in direct payments disguised as wages for a no-show job for Jones.

California Waste Solutions CEO David Duong and Andy Duong are named in the bribery indictment, which followed an FBI probe.

A person wearing an FBI jacket photographs a white car in a driveway. The car's door is open, and a house numbered 4320 is in the background.
FBI agents in June raid a home in Oakland in connection with another raid on Thao's home. | Source: Jessica Christian/SF Chronicle/AP Photo

Thao, Jones and the Duongs are charged with conspiracy, aiding and abetting bribery concerning programs that receive federal funds, conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud and wire fraud, aiding and abetting honest services mail fraud, and two counts of aiding and abetting honest services wire fraud. Andy Duong was also charged with lying to the FBI in a June 20 three-hour interview in which prosecutors said he denied any knowledge of payments to Jones.

The four suspects pleaded not guilty Friday at federal court in Oakland, prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, Thao promised to purchase housing units from a company owned by the Duong brothers and to extend a recycling contract between the city and Cal Waste Solutions. Thao also agreed to appoint senior city officials selected by the Duongs.

A woman in a pink suit sits on a white chair, with her hands clasped holding tissues. The backdrop features a City of Oakland logo with a white tree on a dark background.
Thao reportedly turned herself in Friday at federal court in Oakland. | Source: Camille Cohen/The Standard

In exchange, the Duongs and an unnamed co-conspirator paid $75,000 for campaign mailers targeting Thao’s rivals in the 2022 mayoral election and made $300,000 in payments for a “no-show job” to Jones. After the election, the Duongs and the co-conspirator paid Jones $95,000 for the benefit of both Jones and Thao, with the promise of additional payments, according to the indictment.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Robbins said at a press conference Friday that the alleged fraud by Thao had severely eroded public trust.

“The people need to know they can trust the government,” said Robbins. “This trust is broken when governments agree to a pay-to-play scheme to benefit themselves.”

Several people are exiting a building carrying labeled black containers and a cardboard box. One person is wearing an FBI jacket.
FBI agents raid Thao's home on Maiden Lane. | Source: Jessica Christian/SF Chronicle/AP Photo

In a written exchange around Nov. 10, 2022, Andy Duong and the unnamed co-conspirator acknowledged they were engaging in criminal activity, the indictment said.

“So we may go to jail. … But we are $100 million richer,” the co-conspirator said in a message to Andy Duong, according to an excerpt listed in the indictment. “Money buys everything,” Duong replied.

The co-conspirator replied: “You are right! … Plus we have a 10 year extension to [Recycling Company],” the indictment read.

A March 20, 2023, message to Andy Duong from the co-conspirator listed in the indictment revealed that they had financed mailers for at least 68,000 households and negotiated an increased amount of housing units Thao would purchase, to 300 units at the cost of $300,000 each; an unspecified land deal for an Army base; and an appointment to the Port of Oakland commission.

While not specified in the indictment, the Army base is most likely a 422-acre site in Oakland that was decommissioned in 1999. The former base is in the initial stages of redevelopment, according to the website of engineering firm Kimley-Horn, which is preparing the site for redevelopment. 

Attorneys representing Andy Duong said the charges are baseless and an example of bias against Asian Americans.

“We have kept quiet despite the media frenzy of the past months in the hope that the government would correctly come to see through objective investigation that the allegations are baseless, and being fanned by nothing more than gossip and supposition stitched together by the fabrications and delusions of those who lack all fundamental credibility,” said the statement from Winston Chan, Doug Sprague, and Erik Babcock.

“But disappointingly, Andy instead is today the most recent in a long line of Asian Americans who unfairly are singled out and forced to pay a price for daring to be active in the political sphere,” their statement said.

The scandal around Thao gained momentum when her home and three other residences were raided in June by FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service agents. Speculation followed about a corruption investigation involving Cal Waste Solutions.

The probe appears to be linked to a trip East Bay elected officials took to Vietnam that was organized and sponsored by the Vietnamese American Business Association, headed by David Duong.

At a press conference days after the June raid, Thao struck a defiant tone: “I have done nothing wrong. I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me. I will not be charged with a crime, because I am innocent.”

Michael McLaughlin can be reached at mmclaughlin@sfstandard.com
Garrett Leahy can be reached at garrett@sfstandard.com