Disgraced former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao could spend the rest of her life in jail after being indicted for allegedly funneling city contracts to two businessmen in exchange for money and benefits for herself and her partner.
In the indictment unsealed on Friday it was alleged how Thao conspired to funnel city business to companies in return for kickbacks.
The indictment comes only months after she was recalled from her position over the city’s spiraling crime.
Thao, her ‘longtime partner’ Andre Jones and two local businessmen, Andy and David Duong, were all named in an indictment on charges of bribery, conspiracy and mail and wire fraud unsealed on Friday.
Andy Duong also was charged with one count of lying to federal agents.
Federal prosecutors allege that Thao, who was elected Oakland’s mayor in 2022, agreed that the city would purchase housing units from one of the Duongs’ companies and renew the city’s contract with a recycling company David Duong owned.
In exchange David Duong and his son Andy are alleged to have promised to fund a $75,000 negative mailer campaign during the run-up to the 2022 election. They are also accused of a plan to funnel $95,000 in payments disguised as wages for a job that Jones did not need to show up for.
Jones is described in the indictment as Thao’s longtime romantic partner and is said to have lived with Thao in Oakland. The pair are alleged to have received various kickbacks from the Duongs.
Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao stands in front of the United States District Court for a press conference following her arraignment of federal charges in Oakland, California on Friday
Andre Jones, along with his partner Sheng Thao, the former mayor of Oakland were criminally indicted by a federal grand jury after an FBI corruption investigation. He is pictured on Friday
First Assistant United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins stands with federal officials as he speaks at a news conference announcing the indictment of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao
‘The alleged activities of the accused have led to a growing sense of distrust among taxpayers and elected officials,’ Internal Revenue Service Special Agent Linda Nguyen said at a news conference on Friday announcing the indictments.
‘As alleged, David and Andy Duong used bribes to further the profitability of their business interests and to obtain undue influence over the appointment of high-level Oakland city officials.’
David Duong was the president and CEO of a recycling company that provided residential recycling collection services to Oakland homes and also co-owned with Andy Duong a housing company formed in 2022 to manufacture prefabricated modular homes for unhoused people.
If convicted of all counts, each faces up to 35 years in prison if the sentences run concurrently. However should the judge choose to sentence consecutively the tariff could be as high as 95 years. Andy Duong also faces an additional five years if convicted of lying to agents.
‘The indictment returned by the grand jury describes a corrupt scheme in which the defendants used bribes, mail fraud, wire fraud and other illegal practices to manipulate and corruptly influence the levers of local government,’ said Patrick D. Robbins, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California.
Thao used her influence as the Mayor of Oakland to secure the appointment of a ‘high-level city official to benefit the Duongs’ business interests,’ officials said, without actually naming the person.
During Friday’s court appearance Thao pleaded not guilty. She was released from custody on a $50,000 bond and was prohibited from traveling outside Northern California. Jones also pleaded not guilty, after declining to comment as he arrived to court.
It comes just over six months after FBI agents were seen raiding Thao’s home.
Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, seen here on Friday, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing
The agents were also seen carrying out searches at two homes owned by members of the Duong family that owns the recycling company Cal Waste Solutions.
As part of the raid, federal agents seized a phone belonging to her and her partner Andre Jones, as well as the then-mayor’s cellphone and her personal computer.
Within five days, a federal grand jury also issued a subpoena to the Bay Area city that demanded all ‘documents and communications related to Andre Jones’ be turned over.
It also asked for documents related to Evolutionary Homes, a venture to build container homes involving the Duongs and Mario Juarez – who now stands accused of breaking the law while trying to help Thao win the mayoral election in 2022.
Additionally, the grand jury requested all ‘calendar entries or records’ of meetings that included either one of the two since June 2022 – five months before Thao was even elected.
Jones had previously been publicly accused of corruption by Thao’s ex-chief of staff, Renia Webb, who did not offer any specifics at the time.
Yet Thao repeatedly claimed she was not the target of the investigation and denied any wrongdoing.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle weeks before the November recall vote, Thao even demanded that the FBI tell the public she was not the target of the probe.
‘When they came to my house at about 6am, they came in with long guns, they came in with glocks, they came with the battering ram ready to break down the doors into a sitting mayor’s house,’ she recounted.
‘It was just complete overreach,’ she insisted. ‘I am innocent. The FBI agents have told my attorney that I am not the target of the investigation.’
A spokesperson for California Waste Solutions has since told the Chronicle that the company ‘understands that it has not been charged and is confident that it has not engaged in any wrongdoing relating to Ms. Thao or anyone else.’
Meanwhile, an attorney for Andy Duong, the son of California Waste Solutions CEO David Duong, declined to comment.
Andy Duong, the son of California Waste Solutions CEO David Duong, called the allegations ‘baseless,’ adding how he looked ‘forward to clearing his good name before the court and a jury of his peers.’
David Duong’s attorney said their client denies wrongdoing and ‘will vigorously defend these allegations in court.’
But the city’s Public Ethics Commission has been investigating the Duong family for allegedly using straw donors to give money to politicians.
It released hundreds of documents in November showing that representatives for Evolutionary Homes lobbied for $90million in city funding so that it could build 300 tiny homes out of shipping containers, the Chronicle reports.
‘The mayor is innocent. She looks forward to the opportunity to be able to defend herself in court,’ said Thao’s attorney, Jeff Tsai.
‘What is missing from this indictment is anything that truly indicates that the mayor had any involvement in the scheme that the government has described. We are very confident that we are going to be able to vindicate the mayor of these charges.’
Earlier this week, federal agents also raided the home of San Leandro Council Member Bryan Azevado, who is also connected to the Duong family.
In August 2023, he and Thao were part of a delegation of elected officials to Vietnam on a trip organized and sponsored by the Vietnamese American Business Association – headed by David Duong.
Thao delivered a defiant statement in June after federal authorities raided her home , saying at the time that she did nothing wrong and that she had no plans to resign from office.
Voters in Oakland ousted Thao from office during a recall election in November just two years after she narrowly won office, becoming the first Hmong-American woman to become the mayor of a major U.S. city.
She faced criticism almost immediately after taking office for firing popular Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong.
Frustrated voters, including the local NAACP, blamed Thao for a long list of city woes related to public safety, homelessness and the city’s budget, and she went into the recall election weakened by the FBI raid on her home.
Longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee is among those seeking to replace Thao as Oakland’s next mayor.