Sheng Thao's Price List: A No-Show Job, a Salary Cap, a Bonus Per Unit

Sheng Thao, Oakland's former mayor, is under federal indictment for bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud. Prosecutors say she traded her office for a no-show job for her boyfriend and a decade of locked-in business for the city's recycling contractor. [S1] She, her partner Andre Jones, and recycling executives David and Andy Duong have all pleaded not guilty. [S1]

The Case Against Sheng Thao

Federal prosecutors have indicted Thao on charges of bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud, along with Andre Jones and David and Andy Duong. [S1] The Duongs own California Waste Solutions, Oakland's recycling contractor. [S1] Prosecutors allege Thao helped the company secure future contracts with the city of Oakland in exchange for helping her get elected mayor and payments to Jones. [S1]

According to court filings, Thao agreed to help California Waste Solutions receive a 10-year contract extension, allow Duong to influence certain political appointments and "use her position" to purchase 100 units from Evolutionary Homes. [S2] In exchange, prosecutors allege Thao's partner, Andre Jones, would receive a $300,000 no-show job with the company. [S2] The court documents further state that "the parties discussed" increasing Jones' salary "up to $3-million" if Oakland purchased 300 housing units, with him set to "earn a bonus of $10-thousand per unit sold." [S2]

Thao also overruled her chief of staff, Leigh Hanson, to hire Larry Gallegos as deputy director of housing, even though Hanson did not believe Gallegos was the right fit. [S1] Prosecutors allege Thao would use Gallegos to have the city buy 100 housing units from Evolutionary Homes, one of the companies at the center of the scheme. [S1]

Prosecutors also allege a cover-up effort. When journalist Steve Tavares began investigating a 2023 trade mission to Vietnam, "when Thao learned about the reporting, she became irate, concerned that Azevedo's behavior on a trip she was prominently associated with would reflect badly on her and harm her politically." [S2] Thao called David Duong, and staff who overheard the call said "Thao said something along the lines of 'if this stuff happens, I can't work with you anymore' or 'I can't f*** with you anymore.'" [S2] Shawn Wilson, then chief of staff to Alameda County Supervisors President David Haubert, accepted $10,000 from the Duongs to provide public relations advice; prosecutors contend the "$10,000 check (was) for the purpose of preventing the story about the Vietnam trip from coming out." [S2] Andy Duong allegedly told Azevedo by phone that the article would not be published because of Andy Duong's actions. [S2]

Separately, the government alleged that Duong took videos of numerous local officials in compromising situations, which prosecutors say were intended for use as blackmail. [S3]

18 U.S.C. § 201(b) forbids a person from "directly or indirectly, corruptly" giving, offering or promising "anything of value to any public official or person who has been selected to be a public official, or offers or promises any public official or any person who has been selected to be a public official to give anything of value to any other person or entity, with intent to influence any official act." [S5] Prosecutors' own filings describe that exact structure: a job, a salary, and a per-unit bonus set against a contract extension, appointments and a housing purchase. [S2] Thao, Jones and the Duongs have pleaded not guilty to all charges. [S1] Bryan Azevedo and Mario Juarez have each pleaded guilty and are expected to testify for the prosecution. [S2][S4] Testimony in the trial began with Hanson as the first of 68 potential witnesses federal prosecutors could call. [S1]

PUBLIC OPINION

Steve Tavares, the East Bay Insiders journalist whose reporting on the Vietnam trip allegedly triggered the cover-up attempt, said turning down the cash wasn't a hard call: "If I had no integrity and took his -- we're done. My career is done, I am done. I'm a laughing stock. I am a crook. I didn't get to 51 years to start being a crook at year 51, right?" [S2] Tavares said the approach, relayed through Shawn Wilson, came dressed up as a gift rather than a bribe: "No, it wasn't that direct. ... He does tell me, like, hey, because this is before Christmas 2023, like, hey, this will be a nice little, little present. $2,000 a month. You know, a little nice little Christmas gift." [S2]

BULLSHIT DEFENSE

Thao hasn't conceded an inch. Months before she was indicted, at an anti-recall event, she told supporters, "I am not the target of the investigation," and compared the federal scrutiny to "the Jim Comey investigation into Hillary Clinton that swayed the 2016 presidential election that got us Trump," calling it "overreach" meant to put "a finger on the scale influencing this election." [S4] She was indicted roughly three months later. [S4] Thao, Jones and the Duongs have since pleaded not guilty to all charges. [S1]

Comparing your own federal investigation to Comey-gate is a hell of a flex, but it isn't a rebuttal to a $300,000 job offer or a recorded warning call. Claiming the FBI is out to get you politically doesn't explain why two people charged alongside her already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against her. [S2][S4] Nothing in the record answers the dollar figures. It answers the fact that she doesn't like being investigated.

Oakland's voters recalled Thao before any of this reached a jury. The federal case will decide whether a no-show job, a per-unit bonus and a phone call warning a contractor to stay quiet add up to bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud, or whether 68 witnesses and a stack of filings amount to less than prosecutors think. Either way, the recycling contract and the housing units the Duongs wanted the city to buy are sitting right there in the paperwork, next to her name.

P.S. Two people charged in connection with this same scheme, Azevedo and Juarez, have already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify. Thao is still fighting it in front of a jury that's going to hear from dozens more witnesses before this is over.