Sheng Thao Case: Recordings Reveal Taped Phone Calls, FBI Informant Appearing to Describe Bribes
A video recording filed in the federal corruption case of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao shows a key FBI informant describing the owners of a major recycling contractor paying people after they won a lucrative contract with the city of Oakland.
The video is part of a batch of files released this month that also includes taped phone calls with current and former elected officials. The calls, which appear to have been recorded without the politicians’ knowledge, seem to reveal close working relationships, and at times coordination, between Oakland city officials and the recycling company.
Prosecutors argue the video shows a critical moment in the alleged corruption scheme between their star witness, a co-conspirator turned informant, and the Duong family, owners of California Waste Solutions, the city’s curbside recycling provider.
The company’s CEO, David Duong, and his son, Andy Duong, are facing bribery, conspiracy and mail and wire fraud charges alongside Thao and her longtime partner, Andre Jones.
The four are accused of engaging in a corrupt relationship in the lead-up to the 2022 Oakland mayoral election and in the months following. Prosecutors allege Thao promised she would use her authority as mayor to take actions to benefit the Duongs’ companies in exchange for financing negative political mailers and paying money to Jones through a no-show job.
All four defendants have pleaded not guilty.
In the video from October 2022, Mario Juarez, who has pleaded guilty to participating in the alleged bribery scheme, stands in front of a conference table and makes a toast, professing his loyalty to the Duongs.
“The day after you won the city of Oakland contract, you were there, paying everybody,” Juarez can be heard saying in the video while holding a bottle of what appears to be champagne. “Everybody was like fucking piranhas after you. I remember because I was there. I was in your office. And — $50,000, $100,000 — whatever it was. And you said, ‘What do you want?’ I said, ‘I just want to do business with you.’”
The toast appears to celebrate Evolutionary Homes, a housing company the Duongs and Juarez co-founded around that time that is at the center of the bribery prosecution.
In the video, members of the Duong family do not correct Juarez when he mentions payments. At one point, when Juarez describes “piranhas,” Kristina Duong, California Waste Solutions’ chief financial officer, shakes her head yes.
In a July court filing, prosecutors described the video, saying that Juarez is expected to testify at trial that his comments were in reference to bribes.
“The government expects Juarez to testify that this statement refers to the Duongs giving cash to multiple public officials in exchange for their assistance in helping CWS [California Waste Solutions] secure the Oakland recycling contract in 2014,” the filing reads.
Juarez’s toast to the partnership between the Duongs and Juarez took place when the alleged conspiracy was forming, prosecutors say. By professing his past and future loyalty, prosecutors say Juarez was indicating to the Duongs that he could be trusted to keep their secrets and conduct business in their interest.
“I defended your family, I defend CWS, I defend them physically,” Juarez can be heard saying in the video. “If anyone fucks with CWS, I step up to the plate, and I think I’ve proven that time and time again.”
That very same day, prosecutors say Juarez reached out to Thao to set up a meeting to discuss the negative campaign mailers and the city’s commitment to purchase housing units from Evolutionary Homes.
An attorney for David Duong declined to comment on the video and other allegations Juarez has made. Lawyers representing Andy Duong did not immediately respond.
Defense attorneys for months have raised questions about Juarez’s credibility as a witness, pointing to what they’ve described as his “decades-long history of fraud,” and instances where they say Juarez falsely accused business partners of illegal activity in an effort to escape liability for his own actions.
A second video, taken shortly after the first, shows Juarez making another speech.
“Minus the profanity,” someone off-camera can be heard saying, followed by another person saying, “Keep it PG, please.”
The videos were retrieved from Andy Duong’s phone and are among multiple audio and video files FBI agents seized.
One such file, described as a video depicting Andy Duong, former San Leandro City Councilmember Bryan Azevedo and others, remains under seal. The video was recorded in August 2023, during a trade delegation to Vietnam that Thao, the Duongs and other East Bay officials attended.
Azevedo, who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in a related case in February, is a cooperating government witness in the case involving Thao, Jones and the Duongs. Juarez is expected to testify that Andy Duong told him he often recorded politicians in case he needed to use it for leverage later on.
Court records show prosecutors are now planning to use many of those recordings as evidence in the trial against the Duongs.
Andy Duong, who previously worked for his family’s business, is no longer actively employed by California Waste Solutions, an attorney for the company confirmed via phone on Thursday.
The attorney said Andy Duong is “on a leave of absence” but would not say when the leave began or why.
“I don’t remember when it started. Quite some time ago,” said Doug Straus, an attorney with the Buchalter law firm. “It’s been, at least, many, many, many months.”
‘We got the contract, here is your money’
The video of Juarez talking about payments is not the only time allegations of wider public corruption have surfaced in the case.
In a motion filed last month, attorneys for David Duong described allegations Juarez made to the FBI about the Duongs, including that the family has given millions of dollars in cash to elected officials.
“Juarez knew the Duongs had paid bribes to public officials in the past. It was just how they did business,” the document reads. “Influence with politicians is part of the Duongs’ business plan. Influence came from the money they doled out and from the video evidence they kept.”
According to the motion, Juarez described seeing a line of people at California Waste Solutions’ headquarters waiting to be paid in cash by David Duong.
“[Individual 1] was paid $300,000 in cash in a black gym bag. Juarez knew the amount of cash because Juarez helped count the money,” the filing reads. “The cash to [Individual 1] was definitely for his help in obtaining the CWS contract; D. Duong told [Individual 1] something to the effect of ‘Congratulations, we got the contract, here is your money.’”
Juarez claimed he saw another individual — identified in the filing as Individual 2 — receive $50,000, also in a black gym bag.
“[Individual 2] was angry he only got $50,000; [Individual 2] wanted more money,” it reads.
According to the document, Juarez told federal agents he was involved in bribing a political opponent of a city official. Juarez gave the individual $20,000 in front of a Starbucks.
The Duongs paid two individuals $100,000 each for being lobbyists for California Waste Solutions, but those payments were not reported, Juarez alleged. He also claimed to have seen the Duongs delete footage from a security system.
“Duong had blackmail on a lot of people. A. Duong used blackmail often,” the filing says Juarez alleged. “The Duongs and CWS started using vague consultant contracts to launder money to various individuals. Juarez knew money had been paid to [Individual 1], [Individual 8], and Brian Azevedo.”
In a motion filed Aug. 27, defense attorneys for David Duong pushed to have the video of Juarez and other allegations he has made kept out of the trial. They argued the allegations are unrelated to the charged conspiracy involving Thao, and could make the jury jump to the conclusion that the defendants have a propensity to commit bribery or have poor moral character.
“Allowing Juarez to levy unsubstantiated accusations of obstruction, blackmail, and money laundering will only confuse the issues and encourage the jury to conclude that the Duongs are bad people and therefore likely guilty,” they wrote in the motion.
U.S. Chief District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Sept. 21 denied it, ruling that Juarez’s statements about other alleged bribes can be admitted as evidence.
“The jury will ultimately decide whether Juarez’s statements reveal truth or not,” her order reads.
‘I’m not f—ing with those bitches’
In one of the recorded phone calls filed in federal court, dated April 2019, Thao appears to give Andy Duong information about a closed session discussion related to a legal dispute between the city of Oakland and California Waste Solutions. Oakland had sued the company in 2017, accusing it of overcharging ratepayers. California Waste Solutions then filed its own claims against the city, alleging breach of contract and seeking $5 million.
In the recording, Thao can be heard appearing to reference then-Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan and advising Andy Duong on how to prepare for a meeting the following day.
“So in the meeting, this is what you guys need to do, OK? You guys need to prepare and talk today amongst yourselves and how to figure out how to do this because … in the meeting tomorrow, that’s what Rebecca’s going to ask for, because she doesn’t know what the answer is for that part.”
Thao can also be heard requesting to meet somewhere more private.
“We just need to be further away from people,” Thao can be heard saying. “We don’t want people hearing us talk about this stuff, you know? But if it’s a private room, I prefer a private room, because we don’t really want to be seen with you guys.”
Kaplan, who is no longer a councilmember but is still working for the city, did not respond to KQED’s questions about the recording.
Four years later, in 2023, Thao was mayor.
In a call that September, she vented to Andy Duong about Councilmembers Treva Reid and Janani Ramachandran. In the call, Thao appears to express frustration that they were invited to an event.
“You’re going to have to fucking pick and choose. Because I’m not fucking with those bitches,” she says on the call.
Thao had recently returned from the trade delegation to Vietnam when the country’s prime minister visited the Bay Area and met with local elected officials.
“This is stupid. I’m not going to stand around with these two bitches who constantly talk shit about me and make a big issue to their constituents. They’ll be like, ‘Oh yeah, the mayor is gone, she’s in Vietnam.’ You know, it’s like fuck you. Then why are you coming to see the prime minister?” Thao can be heard saying on the call. “Treva’s not a friend of mine. She should never be invited by you guys to do anything that sounds even cool.”
Thao’s attorneys did not respond to KQED’s requests for comment on the calls.
The files also include a recorded call between Andy Duong and Oakland City Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, and another with Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas, who was president of the Oakland City Council at the time.
In the January 2024 call with Jenkins, Andy Duong follows up on an invitation to party on a yacht.
Duong and Jenkins can be heard joking with each other at the start of the call, referring to women as bitches. They then discuss the campaigns to recall Thao and then Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and Evolutionary Homes.
Reached by phone, Jenkins told KQED that it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the recording given that he is a government witness in the trial.
In the call with Bas, recorded in March that same year, she and Andy Duong can be heard discussing donations to her then-campaign for supervisor.
Duong then tells Bas that he spoke to Thao and asks if she can put an item on an upcoming agenda to extend California Waste Solutions’ agreement with the city to acquire and develop property at the former Oakland Army Base for a new recycling facility.
“Yup. OK. I’ll follow up on this right now,” she says.
In an email, Bas told KQED the city council never voted on or addressed Duong’s request.
“As I do with all constituent matters, I forwarded this inquiry to city staff for their independent review,” she said.