Oakland Corruption Trial: FBI Agent Testimony Stretches Into Fifth Day
Over the course of four days in the federal corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, an FBI agent’s testimony has allowed the court to admit thousands of pages of private texts, digital files and audio recordings.
Special FBI Agent Katherine Barclay will continue that testimony Tuesday.
Thao, her longtime romantic partner Andre Jones, recycling executive David Duong and his son Andy Duong face bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges, for allegedly promising to trade campaign support for Thao’s mayoral campaign, and a $300,000 bribe for favorable treatment for the Duongs’ businesses and interests.
All four have pleaded not guilty.
Here’s what Barclay’s hours of testimony and cross examination have revealed so far about the alleged quid pro quo:
Andy Duong’s secret recordings enter the courtroom
Last week, Barclay identified the voices in a series of phone calls Andy Duong recorded with Thao, Oakland Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas and others — many of which were seemingly recorded without their knowledge.
Jenkins previously told KQED it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the call because he is a government witness. Bas is also expected to testify later in the trial. Neither politician has been accused of wrongdoing.
In one phone conversation between Thao and Andy Duong in April 2019, made public in court filings last month, Thao reported to Andy about a confidential conversation the Oakland City Council had regarding a legal dispute with his family’s recycling company, California Waste Solutions.
In 2017, Oakland sued the company for allegedly overcharging rate payers. The recycling vendor countersued, alleging Oakland breached its contract, and the parties settled in 2021 with California Waste Solutions agreeing to pay ratepayers $6 million in alleged overcharges. The city of Oakland paid the company nearly $2 million, and released it from agreements the company made to pay for waste studies and community outreach totalling about $1.5 million.
During that litigation, in 2019, Thao told Andy Duong that multiple council members had questions about a potential refund his family’s company could have been required to give ratepayers.
Thao, who was then a first-term city councilmember, advised Andy Duong on how to prepare for a meeting the following day: “This is what you guys need to do, OK? You guys need to prepare and talk amongst yourselves and how to figure out how to do this”
Thao goes on to say that she, Andy Duong, and others attending the meeting, who aren’t explicitly named, should meet in a private place for lunch, “because we don’t really want to be seen with you guys.”
In another call from September 2023, Thao tells Andy Duong that he and his business partners will have to “pick and choose” between her support and that of two council members at the time, Janani Ramachandran and Treva Reid.
“I’m not fucking with those bitches, they don’t do me any favors at all,” Thao can be heard saying on the call.
Andre Jones’ Evolutionary Homes Job wasn’t on his computer
Prosecutors asked Barclay about a number of devices that the FBI confiscated during a series of early morning raids on June 20, 2024, which included the home Thao and Jones shared, both David and Andy Duong’s homes, and the waterfront offices of California Waste Solutions.
One of the pieces of evidence was Jones’ laptop. On it, Barclay said, investigators found no references to Evolutionary Homes — a housing startup Andy Duong founded with Mario Juarez, a co-conspirator turned informant in the alleged scheme — where Jones purported to work as a government relations specialist.
Between December 2022 and January 2023, Jones cashed five checks from Juarez totalling $20,000 for his work at the housing startup, according to a government indictment.
But in January 2024, Jones was not listed on an organizational chart for the company, which Cecilia Mendez, a former California Waste Solutions employee and Juarez’s former romantic partner, sent to the Duongs and others.
Prosecutors say the multiple checks from Evolutionary Homes and another of Juarez’s companies, called Ciudad Holdings, were bribes, but Jones’ attorneys have said they were advances to “keep him available” to work as a consultant selling contracts to municipalities once their container homes were ready for sale.
Jones’ attorney spent time during his opening statement pointing to Evolutionary Homes presentations that list him as an employee, as well as a note that indicates he was going to get business cards made by the company.
Investigators did find evidence on Jones’ computer that he worked for another company, called Kearns and West, a national communications firm.
Thao and Jones financial struggles come to light
Barclay’s testimony also admitted a number of text exchanges between Thao and Jones regarding their bills.
Over the course of at least two years when they lived together, Thao sent messages to Jones multiple times reminding him to pay rent. At one point, their landlord told them that, after several months when Jones didn’t pay his portion of the rent on time, the couple would need to provide a cashier’s check, instead of using online deposits.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors have raised questions about Jones’ financial status. In 2021 and 2022 Jones and Thao split rent payments, or Thao paid them in their entirety. But beginning in January 2023, when Jones began receiving payments from Evolutionary Homes, he began to cover the the couple’s monthly rent payments.
In April 2022, Thao texted Jones: “I don’t have enough to cover rent by myself this month. Your mom hasn’t pitched in on any bills either.”
At another point, Thao texted Jones that PG&E wanted $6,000 to turn their power back on, and in another from November 2023, she said: “Please don’t turn on heater, please turn off lights and electricity. The bill this month is 3000 I cannot pay that.”
In January 2024, Thao wrote to Jones: “Please figure out how we pay rent this month asap,” to which he responded, “Yeah I’ll take care of it.”
Prosecutors said Jones deposited a check from Juarez that same day, seeming to insinuate that he used the money to benefit both him and Thao.
But on Monday, Thao’s attorney Jeffrey Tsai tried to cast doubt on that allegation, asking Barclay: “The word ‘how’ refers to payment method, doesn’t it?” She said she did not know.
Jones’ attorney may take a similar route. During his opening statement, defense attorney Mark Goldrosen suggested that “It wasn’t that [Jones] didn’t have enough money, he just wasn’t paying attention” and would forget to transfer enough funds to his accounts linked to their bills.
Barclay says Juarez accused others of bribes
On Monday, Barclay told the court that in a series of interviews, Juarez alleged “that other local politicians had taken bribes.” Tsai then went on to ask her if the government had interviewed a number of current and former Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro elected officials. She said it had not, except in one case; that politician declined to be interviewed.
KQED is not naming the elected officials, because the claims have not been substantiated.
Defense attorneys have repeatedly attempted to discredit Juarez’s allegations to cast further doubt on Juarez as a witness. He’s been called a “consummate hustler” with a “decades-long history” of fraudulent behavior.
On Tuesday, Tsai will continue cross examining Barclay, and attorneys for Jones, David Duong and Andy Duong will also have their chance to cast doubt on what the government believes the admitted evidence proves. Then, another FBI agent and Mendez are slated to testify.