FBI raids and a recycling firm: how a promising US mayor wound up at the center of a bribery scandal
Oakland's former mayor Sheng Thao stands trial on federal corruption charges alongside three co-defendants, with the bribery case expected to conclude later this month after five weeks of hearings.
Two years ago, FBI agents raided the home of Sheng Thao, Oakland's 38-year-old mayor, carrying dozens of boxes as part of an investigation into her alleged participation in a pay-to-play scheme with the city's recycling contractor. The stunning raid marked a dramatic fall for Thao, who was elected in 2022 and once seen as a promising young mayor, the first person of Hmong descent to lead a major US city.
Thao's story of overcoming domestic violence and homelessness to become mayor resonated during the pandemic, but her tenure was marked by challenges. She revived the city's Ceasefire violence-reduction strategy and sold the Oakland Coliseum for revenue, but faced a heated recall campaign over public safety and homelessness issues. She was ousted in November 2024 and indicted on federal corruption charges two months later.
The bribery allegations
Thao and three co-defendants face charges alleging that David and Andy Duong, who run California Waste Solutions, paid for negative mailers attacking her rivals and promised her partner Andre Jones a $300,000 no-show job. In exchange, prosecutors claim Thao promised to extend the company's city contract, appoint preferred people to municipal positions, and buy shipping container homes from a company the Duongs operated.
The case is rich with soap-opera-esque plot points, from an alleged beating at a recycling company's headquarters to text threads in which co-defendants celebrated the plot that would make them '$100 million dollars richer' and touted that 'money buys everything'.
Community impact
The scandal has disappointed Oakland residents, particularly in the Asian-American community that saw Thao as a symbol of representation. 'Many were, quite honestly, just disappointed, even sad,' said Stephanie Tran, president of the Oakland Chinatown chamber of commerce, 'that an Asian woman in such a high position of power was now associated with this controversy.'
While political observers follow the trial closely, many everyday Oaklanders have moved on. 'The trial is accounting for things that happened when Oakland bottomed out during the first few years of the pandemic,' said Darwin BondGraham, news editor at The Oaklandside. 'I think people moved on.' Residents are more concerned with basic services like fixing potholes and timely 911 responses.
Governance challenges
The trial has exposed deeper governance issues in Oakland, which has faced recurring budget deficits and staffing shortages. Recent reports found illegal dumping cost the city $10 million more than a decade ago, while police response times averaged 23 minutes in 2022 and sometimes exceeded an hour in 2023.
Lakisha Young, founder of The Oakland Reach, pointed to the city's many initiatives without proper tracking: 'Our city is inundated with initiatives... but that lack any formal infrastructure for tracking results.' She emphasized the need for accountability: 'When people are held accountable, different things happen.'
Recent testimony suggested corruption may predate Thao's term, with allegations that the Duongs gave cash to city officials as early as 2014. Oakland recently passed a 'strong mayor' reform to clarify governance structure, though some worry about the unpredictability of future leadership. 'The challenges that Oakland has, quite candidly, didn't begin with this trial, and they won't end when it's over,' Tran concluded.
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