The federal corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao began in earnest Wednesday, with prosecutors and defense attorneys presenting the jury with starkly different versions of the case.
At the start of what’s expected to be a roughly six-week trial, opposing attorneys painted the defendants as, on one hand, cunning political operatives and shady businessmen who participated in a lucrative bribery and influence-peddling scheme or, on the other hand, victims of a vengeful Oakland “kingmaker” who is helping prosecutors in the hope of receiving a lighter sentence after pleading guilty to his own bribery charge.
“This is a case about a public official who put her power up for sale, a public official who put greed first, who put her own monetary interest above the people she was supposed to serve,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Abraham Fine.
Thao is facing several charges related to the alleged money-for-influence scheme, along with three co-defendants — her former romantic partner, Andre Jones, and David Duong and his son, Andy, a pair of politically connected Oakland business owners.
All four pleaded not guilty to a raft of federal corruption and bribery charges in January.
The Duongs own California Waste Solutions, Oakland’s recycling vendor, and Evolutionary Homes, a company that was trying to build modular housing units out of old shipping containers, with the intention of selling them to local governments to help address homelessness.
“They were willing to bribe and cheat to support that business,” Fine said.
The scheme, as alleged by the U.S. Department of Justice, involved the Duongs paying Jones for a fake job in exchange for Thao’s help securing a city contract to purchase modular homes.
The alleged quid pro quo agreement also involved Thao helping the family win an extension of its existing recycling contract and an alleged promise from Thao to place the family’s hand-picked candidate in a high-level position inside city government.
“They wanted someone on the inside to help accomplish their illicit aims,” Fine said.
In addition to a $300,000-per-year job for Jones at Evolutionary Homes, for which he allegedly received advances totaling tens of thousands of dollars, the Duongs allegedly spent $75,000 on a political mailer attacking Thao’s mayoral opponent in the days leading up to the November 2022 election, which Thao won by fewer than 700 votes.
Defense calls bribery allegations ‘pure fiction’
Thao’s attorney, Jeffrey Tsai, painted an altogether different picture of the case.
Tsai and lawyers for Jones and the Duongs say the government’s case is based almost entirely on the vengeful musings of Mario Juarez, an Evolutionary Homes co-owner and longtime Oakland political mover and shaker whom Fine himself described as “no angel.”
“The narrator of the story is that person named Mario Juarez,” Tsai said. “And what you will quickly discover in the evidence, is that the story that has been introduced to you is pure fiction.”
The defense lawyers told jurors that Thao, Jones and the Duongs had no knowledge of any alleged scheme concocted by Juarez, which they said he invented to reduce his own prison sentence by cooperating with federal prosecutors.
Tsai said there is no evidence that Thao benefited in any way from the alleged criminal enterprise.
“She didn’t buy herself an exotic sports car, no fancy new clothes, or jewelry or a secret vacation home,” Tsai said. “As the evidence will actually show, there is no windfall, no lifestyle change, no secret accounts, the real Sheng Thao still carries credit card balances and pays her bills just like anyone else.”
Defense attorneys also said Jones’ job at Evolutionary Homes was legitimate and that they would present evidence to confirm that.
They also said none of the things Thao allegedly promised in exchange for money came to pass.
“There is not a single text message, email or recording — audio, video or otherwise — of Sheng Thao asking anyone for money, or accepting money from Mario Juarez or Andy Duong or David Duong.”
The trial resumes Thursday with its first witness, expected to be Thao’s former mayoral chief of staff, Leigh Hanson.
