Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Tao has been indicted on bribery charges along with her longtime boyfriend and the father-son team that runs a company that provides the city's recycling services, federal authorities announced Friday. In exchange for city contracts.
The federal charges come two months after Tao took office He was recalled from the office Amid voter frustration with crime, homelessness and a sense that city government is unresponsive to citizens' needs. Thao, who took office in January 2023, hailed his journey from homelessness to chief executive and celebrated him as the first Hmong American to lead a major American city.
The indictment, handed up by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Oakland, was filed Jan. 9 and unsealed Friday. It blames Tao; her boyfriend, Andre Jones; and two local waste company executives, David Duong and his son Andy, for bribery and conspiracy. Andy Duong was also charged with lying to federal agents.
Weeks before running for mayor of Oakland in the fall of 2022, Thao promised to do deals with the Duong family's recycling company Cal Waste Solutions in exchange for campaign mailers targeting his opponents, the indictment says. A “no show” job. Jones eventually received $95,000, the indictment says. It alleges that Thao promised to get the city of Oakland to buy modular housing for the homeless from the Duong family's housing company and to appoint people chosen by the Duongs to powerful city positions.
According to local news reports, Tao pleaded not guilty during his arraignment on Friday and was released from custody on a $50,000 bond. Jones also pleaded not guilty.
“The mayor is innocent. She looks forward to the opportunity to defend herself in court,” said Tao's lawyer, Jeff Chai. San Francisco Chronicle. “What is missing from this indictment is any factual indication that the mayor had any involvement in the scheme described by the government. We are very confident that we can prove these allegations against the mayor.
In a statement on Friday, Andy Duong's attorneys called the allegations against his client “baseless” and “nothing more than rumors and speculation strung together by the fables and delusions of those who lack basic credibility.” “She is the latest in a long line of Asian Americans who have been unjustly singled out and forced to pay the price for daring to be active in the political arena,” the statement said.
David Duong also denied wrongdoing.
The allegations shocked Oakland's political class. Former U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, who represented the East Bay in Congress for more than two decades and is now running for mayor in a special election in April, released a statement calling the allegations “disastrous.”
“There should be zero tolerance for secret pay-to-play schemes that undermine public trust,” he said. “City Hall should never be for sale.”
Rumors a Corruption investigation The case involving Thao has been swirling for months after the FBI raided his home in June.
At that time, Tao A Fiery news conference That she was not the target of the investigation.
“I want to be clear. I did nothing wrong,” she said in a tearful speech days after FBI agents came to her home and left with the boxes. “I can say with confidence that this investigation is not about me.”
He also questioned the FBI's tactics: “If I had been rich, if I had gone to top private schools or if I had come from money, this would not have happened,” he said.
On the same day that Thao's home was searched, agents executed warrants at Cal Waste Solutions' Oakland office and at the homes of David and Andy Duong. The company issued a statement at the time saying it was not involved in illegal activities.
Separate from the FBI probe, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission and the state Fair Political Practices Commission are investigating allegations that members of the Duong family used “straw donors” to avoid donation limits and boost the campaigns of local elected officials.
The indictment, unsealed Friday, is said to be 22 pages long and includes several text exchanges — and at times auto-correct hijinks.
“Sheng is going to call you a$$,” the man, identified as “Co-Conspirator 1,” wrote to Andy Duong in October 2022, a month before Tao was elected, according to the indictment.
Duong reportedly replied: “Lol. What money?”
“She needs,” co-conspirator 1 allegedly replied: “I told you that you were groupies.” A subsequent text message clarified: “Confirmed.”
The indictment alleges that in late November 2022, after Tao's election, the two discussed fears that the plan might come to light.
“So we can go to jail,” co-conspirator 1 wrote to Duong, according to the indictment. “But we're $100 million richer.”
“Money buys everything,” replied Andy Duong.