Former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao, her romantic associate and a pair of influential Oakland enterprise house owners are dealing with federal corruption and bribery costs, federal authorities introduced Friday.
If convicted of all costs within the eight-count indictment, Thao, Andre Jones and David and Andy Duong may spend a long time in jail.
“The indictment returned by the grand jury describes a corrupt scheme in which the defendant used bribes, mail fraud, wire fraud and other illegal practices to manipulate and corruptly influence the levers of local government,” mentioned Patrick Robbins, first assistant U.S. Legal professional for the Northern District of California.
The defendants have been scheduled to seem earlier than a U.S. Justice of the Peace within the federal courthouse in Oakland at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
FILE: The FBI carried out a court docket approved regulation enforcement exercise at Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s home at 80 Maiden Lane in Oakland on June 20, 2024. (Kiley Russell/Bay Metropolis Information)
The indictment comes about six months after a well-publicized FBI raid of the house Thao and Jones share within the Oakland hills and about two months after Oakland voters eliminated her from workplace in a recall election.
The alleged scheme began round October 2022, previous to the November election Thao narrowly received that 12 months, and concerned a $95,000 fee from the Duongs to Thao and Jones.
In alternate, Thao allegedly agreed to purchase “housing units” from a Duong-owned firm, lengthen a metropolis recycling contract for his or her firm and appoint a high-level metropolis official to profit the Duongs’ enterprise pursuits.
Along with the $95,000, the Duongs additionally allegedly bribed Thao with the financing of a detrimental marketing campaign mailer concentrating on her political foes within the lead as much as the 2022 election.
Attorneys for Thao and Jones didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, nor did a spokesperson for Cal Waste Options, the Duongs’ recycling firm.
