OAKLAND — Federal prosecutors appear to be amassing a wide-ranging list of likely witnesses to take the stand in October when ex-Mayor Sheng Thao and three co-defendants face a criminal trial for charges of bribery and conspiracy.
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In court filings made public over the last few weeks, prosecutors revealed that a key FBI informant and East Bay political operative, Mario Juarez, had already pleaded guilty to conspiring with father-and-son business partners David and Andy Duong to bribe Thao and her romantic partner, Andre Jones, in exchange for political favors.
Further details have not yet been made public on his plea, and his case does not appear in a publicly searchable federal database, suggesting it may have been sealed.
The revelation came as prosecutors also formally named two additional likely witnesses in the documents: Julie Wedge, a political consultant who advised Thao in her 2022 mayoral campaign, and Cesley Frost, the chief of staff to Alameda County Supervisor Lena Tam.
Both of them worked for Juarez at his newly formed housing company, the filings claim — a venture that allegedly had a “done deal” with Thao’s administration for millions of dollars in housing grants as a part of the bribery scheme.
Together, the growing list of potential witnesses represents the clearest picture yet of the trial that could send Thao and each of her alleged co-conspirators to federal prison for up to 20 years on the most serious charge. Prosecutors announced their plans in recent filings arguing for the admission of a trove of evidence at trial — various aspects of which attorneys for Thao, Jones and the Duongs want kept from any jury.
The four indicted defendants have all pleaded not guilty, and their attorneys did not respond to calls by this news outlet seeking comment. Winston Chan, an attorney for Andy Duong has previously criticized the prosecution’s approach as a bid to “smear” his client’s character, adding in a filing that the government was “hoping this unrelated ‘evidence’ also has an adverse spillover impact on the other defendants.”
Already, federal prosecutors have signaled they plan to call former San Leandro City Councilmember Bryan Azevedo, who in February pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Juarez and the Duongs. Larry Gallegos, a former city official handpicked to be deputy director of the city’s Housing and Community Development Department as part of the alleged conspiracy, also is expected to testify.
Prosecutors say the texts and expected testimony show a transactional relationship in which the Duongs received political access while Thao and her family received financial benefits.
“Text messages and witness testimony will show that over the course of multiple meetings, Thao committed to take steps to benefit (her co-conspirators) if she became mayor in exchange for various financial benefits to Thao and Jones,” prosecutors said in the new filings.
At the core of the prosecutors’ case is an allegation that Thao accepted bribes in exchange for ushering through a lucrative affordable-housing contract to Juarez and the Duongs by appointing Gallegos and pushing city officials to declare a state of emergency on homelessness.
In return, her alleged co-conspirators bought negative campaign mailers targeting Thao’s political rivals in the 2022 mayoral election and promised a lucrative no-show job for Jones at their housing company, Evolutionary Homes.
Early employees of that company, prosecutors said, were assured that Thao had already cut a deal to buy hundreds of housing units from them.
Wedge and Frost are both expected to testify they joined Evolutionary Homes in May 2023 “without a salary or upfront payment,” prosecutors said. That’s because winning competitive public dollars under Thao’s administration was merely a “formality,” Juarez told Frost in text messages at the time.
Juarez also told Wedge in a text that they “don’t foresee any bs,” noting that Gallegos had been assigned to the city’s housing department “to walk out proposal” and ensure Oakland funneled federal grants to the company for its housing units, the filings claim.
“Write up the technical stuff — applications and proposals,” Juarez similarly texted Wedge, noting that “all deals are cut” because “your friends at the Mayors office are working close with sheng and company … From CWS.”
CWS refers to California Waste Solutions, the Duong family-owned business that manages Oakland’s recycling contract. Previous reporting by this news organization on the latest filings showed Juarez, a longtime political operative in Oakland, had long sought to partner with the family in a business venture.
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Juarez was “unquestionably a member of the conspiracy, communicating to (Wedge and Frost) that future sales of the units to Oakland was certain,” prosecutors said.
Reached by this news outlet, Wedge confirmed she had been subpoenaed to testify at the trial, but emphasized she is not facing the threat of charges and knew nothing about a bribery scheme. Attempts by this news outlet to reach Juarez and the four indicted defendants were not successful.
Wedge said she was never paid for her time at Evolutionary Homes, and “nobody who got paid raised any red flags for me.”
She said she decided to work for the company because it represented a chance to create transitional housing in the Bay Area, which she said she believed was critical to addressing the issue of homelessness.
“We were in it to get people off the streets,” she added.
The new filings, meanwhile, help illustrate the extent of Thao’s relationship with the Duongs, which included paid travel for her family and thousands of dollars to attend political fundraisers and events.
The Duongs paid for Jones’ daughter to join an August 2023 delegation trip to Vietnam led by Thao that included a host of other local dignitaries, prosecutors claimed in their filing. After that trip, a Duong-led organization booked and bankrolled a vacation for Thao and her son to Thailand, the prosecutors added.
Thao’s travel expenses in Vietnam totaled $12,000 bill, according to records obtained by this news organization. It is unclear what the Duongs paid for her Thailand trip.
By February 2024, the former mayor directed her staff to seek financial support from the Duongs.
In text messages at the time, Andy Duong told his father that then-Deputy Mayor Kimberly Mayfield had asked if California Waste Solutions could sponsor a bus for Thao and her staff at the upcoming Black Joy Parade in Oakland.
“I do not know if she can do anything good,” David Duong texted back, to which Andy responded, “She still deputy Mayor and can move things around beside Sheng. Sheng also asked her to ask us about the parade too.”
Soon afterward, Andy told his father that Thao herself had personally called to ask about the buses.
The exchange came one month after Thao told her staff to tour the Duongs’ housing company, Evolutionary Homes. Prosecutors claim that it suggests Thao wanted more money to “ensure she carried out her end of the corrupt bargain.”
It also revealed something important about David Duong, prosecutors said. The longtime East Bay businessman, they claimed, “considers this type of sponsorship and support as transactional and only beneficial if he can get something in return.”
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are expected to argue what should and should not be admissible in court at hearings beginning in August, ahead of an Oct. 19 trial date.
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at [email protected].
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at [email protected].
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