‘Politics as Profit’ or ‘Pure Fiction’: Bribery Trial of Ex-Oakland Mayor Kicks Off

More than a year after former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and three codefendants were indicted in an alleged bribery scheme that roiled the city’s political circles, their long-awaited trial got underway Wednesday with five very different storylines.

Prosecutors allege Thao, her longtime romantic partner Andre Jones, and father and son Andy and David Duong engaged in a quid pro quo: In the run-up to the 2022 mayoral election, the Duongs would fund a negative ad campaign against Thao’s opponents and pay Jones $300,000 for a no-show job. In exchange, Thao would use her power if elected mayor to give favorable treatment to the Duongs’ business, California Waste Solutions, as well as to a housing startup called Evolutionary Homes that sought to turn shipping containers into homes for people exiting homelessness.

“Sheng Thao was a public official on the take, and she and Andre Jones were open for business,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Abraham Fine said during his opening statement to the court. “David and Andy Duong were looking for results and were willing to pay bribes to get them.”

“This is not politics as usual,” he said, “this is politics as profit.”

Each of the defendants has pleaded not guilty, and none spoke to reporters after opening statements on Tuesday. While each of their attorneys painted a different picture of what actually happened between the parties, they all agreed that Mario Juarez — the Duongs’ former business partner and the prosecution’s key witness — should not be believed.

“The narrator of this story is that person named Mario Juarez, and what you will quickly discover is that the story that has been introduced to you is pure fiction,” Thao’s attorney, Jeffrey Tsai, said.

The trial comes more than two years after the FBI executed early morning raids of the home Thao shared with Jones, as well as Andy and David Duong’s homes and California Waste Solutions’ headquarters. 

The operation added fuel to a campaign already underway to recall Thao. She was removed from office in November 2024 and indicted on the bribery, fraud and conspiracy charges shortly after. 

Tsai painted Thao as a young, determined politician who came into office in January 2023 prepared to tackle major challenges facing the city of Oakland — from a homelessness crisis and budget deficit to gun violence.

Thao had known Juarez from her years as a staffer in Oakland City Hall, but Tsai said Thao kept him at a comfortable distance. 

Tsai alleged Juarez repeatedly tried to offer Thao support throughout her 2022 mayoral campaign. When they finally met in October, just weeks before Election Day, Juarez allegedly told Thao that labor unions sent him to help her win, and he planned to produce a political mailer in support of her race.

“There was certainly no agreement for any bribe of any kind, no discussion of $300,000 or modular housing units,” Tsai said. 

Tsai said that after her election, Juarez repeatedly appealed to Thao, advocating for city contracts for companies he was affiliated with, including ABC Security Service Inc. — which provides security services at city properties — and urging her to appoint his favored candidates to top city positions.

Tsai said Thao repeatedly rebuked his requests and had no knowledge of any bribery scheme promising city contracts and staff appointments.

“The evidence will show that the real Sheng Thao is not the profile of someone who would sell her office that she fought so hard to earn in the first place,” Tsai told the jury.

Jones’ defense attorney, Mark Goldrosen, spent his opening on behalf of Thao’s longtime romantic partner defending the “government relations” role Jones held with the container home startup Juarez and Andy Duong founded that’s at the center of the case. 

Goldrosen said Evolutionary Homes aligned with Jones’ interests and qualifications, both in reducing homelessness and working with local governments. 

He was hired to serve as a consultant and would be paid on commission. But as the company got off the ground, Goldrosen said he was paid advances, totaling $75,000, to “keep him available” to Evolutionary Homes.

Like Thao, David Duong’s attorney told the court he was oblivious to any scheme. 

Jeff Schenk described David as a hardworking immigrant from Vietnam and a legitimate businessman. He held the financial power, Schenk said, but had no knowledge of any bribery scheme or deals that his son and Juarez allegedly made with Thao and Jones. 

He referred the jury to a series of texts between Andy Duong and Juarez in March 2023, in which Juarez asked Andy if they should “tell David” about updates to their alleged arrangement. 

“If David Duong was a partner in crime…why, five months after the beginning, does Juarez have to ask if they should share?” Schenk said.

None of the other defendants’ stories, however, seemed to vindicate Andy Duong — who prosecutors allege spearheaded negotiations in the scheme with Juarez. 

His counsel, Winston Chan, acknowledged that some of the text communication he had with Juarez, taken out of context, couldn’t be denied. However, he said the government had crafted a story based on “cherry-picked” messages and notes. He said Duong’s texts cheering Thao’s victory were not unusual for a politically engaged voter, and his response to Juarez saying Thao would buy housing units from Evolutionary Homes reflected a startup founder’s shock and excitement that a city might invest.

“Not one bit of these facts equals the bribery scheme the government is alleging,” Chan said.

Whether the pieces of evidence the prosecution presents add up to the story of bribery the government has alleged “lives or dies” on Juarez’s testimony, Chan told the jury, and whether, “when he takes the stand, you believe what he says.” 

Throughout the day, defense attorneys repeatedly undermined Juarez’s credibility, describing him as a “consummate hustler” and “vengeful” with a tendency to tell “half truths.”

“When the source of the information is unreliable, you see that the allegations fall apart,” Schenk said.

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Fine got ahead of the criticism in his own opening statement, saying of Juarez: “You’ll hear and see, he is no angel.”

However, he said, the Evolutionary Homes cofounder would “give you an insider’s view of this bribery scheme.”

“He’ll talk about the evidence, what was said in the meetings,” Fine told the jury, “tell you some about his history of doing dirty work for the Duong family.”

Fine pledged that throughout the trial, prosecutors planned to present copious text messages, taped phone calls, video recordings and financial records chronicling the conspiracy and bribery scheme — and corroborating Juarez’s claims. 

“When you hear Juarez’s testimony, will see how it lines up with all of that other evidence,” Fine told the court.

During the first day of testimony on Thursday, prosecutors plan to call Leigh Hanson, who served as Thao’s chief of staff. Hanson parted with the city shortly after Kevin Jenkins took office as interim mayor following Thao’s recall and subsequently filed a lawsuit against Oakland alleging that she was wrongfully fired.

KQED’s Alex Hall contributed to this report.