Sheng Thao Trial: Government Asks Judge to Block Questions About Key Informant’s Past
Prosecutors gearing up for the federal corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao are asking a judge to bar defense attorneys from cross-examining their star witness about certain aspects of his checkered past, along with a shooting that took place in front of his home several days after he first spoke with federal investigators.
The long-awaited trial, scheduled to begin with jury selection on Oct. 13, is expected to feature testimony from that witness, Mario Juarez, an Oakland businessman and political operative who was a key informant in the FBI’s investigation.
Defense attorneys have argued that Juarez has a history of accusing others of wrongdoing when business relationships collapse, pointing to numerous lawsuits they say he has been a party to, including fraud cases involving former business partners.
Thao, her longtime romantic partner Andre Jones and father-and-son recycling executives David and Andy Duong will also be on trial. The four were indicted last year on bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges in an alleged pay-to-play scheme. Andy Duong faces an additional charge related to lying to federal agents.
Prosecutors allege Thao agreed to use her power to extend the Duongs’ recycling contract, commit the city to purchase homes from a housing company co-owned by the Duongs and Juarez, and appoint city officials they selected to work in high-level staff positions.
In exchange, the Duongs financed negative campaign mailers targeting Thao’s opponents in the 2022 mayoral election and paid Jones for a no-show job, prosecutors allege.
All four defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Juarez has pleaded guilty to participating in the alleged conspiracy and is expected to testify at trial about his interactions with the defendants as well as his experience as a co-founder of Evolutionary Homes, the housing company at the heart of the alleged conspiracy.
Court records show the government is also asking the judge to prohibit defense attorneys from bringing up a text message scandal that rocked Oakland earlier this year, a documentary the Duongs released last year about their origin story and arguments that the prosecution of the case is politically biased.
In a motion filed in federal court on Thursday, government attorneys argued that defense lawyers should not be permitted to ask Juarez about “decades-old” lawsuits, including any actions related to his surrendered real estate license, as well as “unsubstantiated allegations of unrelated fraud, or prior arrests and criminal charges that did not result in convictions.”
The filing mentions, among other things, a 2016 federal money laundering investigation of Juarez that was closed without any arrests or charges, allegations of real estate fraud and Juarez’s prior arrests and charges for theft and embezzlement, battery and grand theft.
Juarez does not have any criminal convictions, the motion notes.
“Juarez is not on trial in this case, and his cross-examination should not serve as an opportunity for the defense to stage a mini-trial about any acts Juarez may have committed,” the motion states.
A hearing to discuss the pre-trial motion and a collection of others is scheduled for Sept. 11.
Several defense attorneys in the case did not respond to KQED’s request for comment on the government’s motions. One attorney representing David Duong said lawyers would respond in a brief this week.
In April, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied a series of motions filed by defense attorneys raising questions about Juarez’s past and his credibility as a witness.
They argued that the FBI left out key information about Juarez’s history in affidavits used to secure search warrants of their clients’ homes, vehicles and businesses, which they said rested heavily on his claims. Some of the seized evidence should be suppressed, they argued.
Prosecutors responded that they had accumulated extensive documentary evidence related to the alleged conspiracy long before ever speaking with Juarez.
In their motion filed last week, lawyers with the U.S. Attorney’s Office argued that Juarez should not be questioned about government investigations into his conduct, allegations that he misappropriated funds from Evolutionary Homes and a 2024 shooting in front of his house.
The filing specifically points to a 2024 affidavit submitted in support of a warrant to search Juarez’s bank records following a complaint that he had defrauded Oakland businessman and president of the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council, Stewart Chen, of a $250,000 loan.
The affidavit, filed by an inspector with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, describes an interview with Jack Cohen of Balboa LLC, who claimed he loaned Juarez $3 million and that Juarez never paid it back.
The inspector also spoke with Andy Duong, who described the Duongs’ and Juarez’s business investment in Evolutionary Homes and their subsequent falling out, the affidavit reads. According to Duong, he and David Duong “fell victim to what he considered theft of their investment.”
To date, the district attorney’s office has not filed charges in the case.
The affidavit was filed about five and a half weeks after a shooting took place in front of Juarez’s house. Several days earlier, Juarez had spoken with the government about the alleged scheme involving Thao and the Duongs for the first time.
Prosecutors wrote in their motion on Thursday that Juarez initially reported to Oakland police and the FBI that he had confronted two individuals breaking into his vehicle, and that one of them shot at him and he returned fire.
“The FBI believed that the shooting might have been related to Juarez’s cooperation with law enforcement and that he was in potential physical danger,” it reads. “The day after the shooting, the FBI relocated Juarez for his safety and paid for a hotel room, rental car, and per diem for meals for Juarez, amounting to approximately $8,568.07 in expenses.”
The FBI later determined it was likely that Juarez shot first, rather than returning fire, the document reads. When FBI agents then interviewed Juarez about the shooting, he said he shot first after another individual pointed a gun at him, and he thought his life was in danger.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office moved to dismiss a criminal case against a suspect in the shooting in May after learning of Juarez’s inconsistent statements, a document filed in Alameda County Superior Court shows.
“In the light of the material inconsistencies in [Juarez’s] statement regarding the event and the absence of any physical evidence that would corroborate [his] statement, the People cannot sustain their burden beyond a reasonable doubt,” it reads.
In their motion filed Thursday, federal prosecutors asked the judge to prohibit defense attorneys from questioning Juarez about the shooting, his statements to law enforcement about it and the government’s response.
They also requested that the judge prohibit the defense from asking former Oakland City Administrator Jestin Johnson and former Assistant City Administrator Harold Duffey about text messages they sent each other regarding female city of Oakland employees, which surfaced in May, leading to Johnson’s abrupt resignation.
Duffey is now a city manager for the city of Brentwood, where he is currently on administrative leave. Both are on the government’s list of potential witnesses expected to testify.
In the months following the FBI’s search of Thao’s home in 2024, both she and her attorney raised questions about the timing of the raid, which took place several months before a general election in which she was facing a recall.
Prosecutors have asked that defendants not be permitted to argue that the government’s investigation of the case is politically motivated.
At an anti-recall campaign event in October 2024, Thao told a crowd of supporters and media that she was innocent.
“I am not the target of the investigation,” Thao said. “Unfortunately, like the Jim Comey investigation into Hillary Clinton that swayed the 2016 presidential election that got us Trump, this overreach of the FBI is undoubtedly putting a finger on the scale influencing this election.”
She was indicted roughly three months later.