Defense in Oakland Corruption Case Files Motion Targeting Key Informant’s Credibility

Attorneys for Oakland businessman David Duong, one of four defendants charged in a federal pay-to-play corruption case involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, are asking a judge to throw out evidence seized in a raid last year, arguing that the FBI relied on an informant with a history of fraud and dishonesty.

Duong was indicted in January on bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges, along with Thao, her longtime partner Andre Jones, and Duong’s son, Andy Duong. Federal prosecutors have accused the group of engaging in a corrupt relationship in which Thao allegedly agreed to use her power as mayor to commit the city of Oakland to purchase housing units from the Duongs’ company, Evolutionary Homes, and provide other favors in exchange for money and negative campaign mailers targeting her opponents in the 2022 mayoral race.

All four defendants have pleaded not guilty.

In a filing late Friday in federal court, David Duong’s attorneys accused the FBI of failing to disclose material information about the informant in an affidavit used to secure a search warrant to raid Duong’s home, cars and business.

The informant, identified in a Jan. 9 indictment as “Co-Conspirator 1,” is widely believed to be businessman and former Oakland City Council candidate Mario Juarez.

“The government failed to disclose that Co-Conspirator 1, the central figure in this supposed scheme, has a decades-long history of fraud and has been repeatedly found liable for fraud in lawsuits,” the filing reads. “The affidavit did not reveal that Co-Conspirator 1 has repeatedly falsely accused business partners of crimes and other wrongdoings in efforts to escape liability for his own actions.”

Duong’s attorneys are asking a federal judge to hold a hearing where they can question the FBI agent who wrote the nearly 80-page sealed affidavit.

“The government built its case against David Duong almost entirely on allegations from a known fraudster with a grudge against the Duong family,” Duong’s attorneys said in a statement to KQED Saturday.

“The government violated Mr. Duong’s constitutional rights when it failed to disclose its cooperator’s full background and false statements in the warrant applications.”A spokesperson for the FBI’s San Francisco field office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday afternoon.

Evolutionary Homes is no longer in business, but David Duong remains CEO of California Waste Solutions, Oakland’s curbside recycling provider. His attorneys are also seeking to exclude some evidence obtained from David Duong’s cell phone provider through an earlier warrant.

According to David Duong’s lawyers, the June 2024 affidavit said that agents came across information about the alleged scheme while investigating Juarez’s suspected defrauding of an Oakland print shop he hired to produce and mail the campaign mailers.
The Alameda District Attorney’s Office last year charged Juarez with passing bad checks in connection to the mailers, but the case was later dismissed.

According to Duong’s lawyers, who viewed the sealed affidavit, it also shows that federal investigators alleged a shooting in front of Juarez’s house last year may have been an attempt by the Duongs to orchestrate Juarez’s murder in retaliation for cooperating with law enforcement.

“Based on my training and experience, and knowledge of the investigation,” an FBI agent wrote, according to Duong’s filing, “given that the shooter or shooters were waiting at [Co-Conspirator 1] home, and the shooting occurred three days after [Co-Conspirator 1] spoke with FBI agents, I believe that the shooting was targeted and may have been coordinated by the Duong family in an attempt to kill or harm [Co-Conspirator 1] to prevent him from cooperating with the investigation.”

Attorneys for Duong said that allegation was based on Juarez’s “lies to law enforcement” about what happened the night of the shooting. On the contrary, they allege, evidence shows Juarez initiated the shooting himself.

“Evidence that was available to the agent but was omitted from the affidavit shows the shooting had nothing to do with David Duong and his family,” the filing reads.

After the shooting, law enforcement provided funds to Juarez for relocation, according to the document.

The affidavit indicates Juarez likely cooperated in the case in the hopes of obtaining leniency, according to Duong’s attorneys, and that he “appears to be motivated by revenge against the Duongs and a desire to obtain protection from law enforcement from the Duongs.”

While the affidavit notes that Juarez has been charged with theft-related crimes, it said there were no convictions.

“The affidavit does not disclose readily available, public information that Co-Conspirator 1 has a decades-long track record of defrauding business partners, like David Duong, including situations where Co-Conspirator 1 accused his creditors of crimes to try to prevent them from being able to recoup debts he owed,” the filing reads.

Public records show Juarez has been sued about 33 times between 1992 and 2022, including numerous fraud cases involving former business partners, according to the filing.

“Juarez’s claims are rendered fundamentally unreliable by his history of fraud, lies and attacking his former business partners,” Duongs’ attorneys wrote. “The failure to disclose this history was reckless at best.”