OAKLAND — Former San Leandro City Councilman Bryan Azevedo pleaded guilty Wednesday to accepting a $2,000 bribe and then lying about it to federal agents, signaling the first conviction in a sprawling East Bay political corruption scandal that has also ensnared Oakland’s former mayor.
Azevedo — who resigned from San Leandro’s City Council effective Tuesday, about a year into his second term — said little during Wednesday’s court hearing, except to acknowledge U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers and seal the deal.
Wearing a dark blue suit with no tie and an American flag pin on his lapel, Azevedo pleaded guilty to the exact same charges for which he was indicted last year: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and lying to a government agency. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the conspiracy charge and five years in prison for the other count — though it’s unlikely that he serves that much time, given his lack of prior criminal history and his expected cooperation with federal prosecutors in another case.
Azevedo said only “no comment” when approached by reporters after the hearing.
His plea completes a steady fall from grace for the two-term councilman, a sheet metal foreman who handily won election to the City Council in 2020 before watching his political fortunes slowly fade in recent years. He barely won re-election in November 2024 — capturing the contest by fewer than 500 votes — before becoming entangled in the largest political corruption scandal to hit the East Bay in decades.
He now becomes a potential witness for federal prosecutors as they continue to build their case against ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.
The former mayor is accused of accepting bribes from Andy Duong and his father, David, in the form of help paying for controversial election mailers ahead of the November 2022 election, as well as a lucrative no-show job for Thao’s romantic partner, Andre Jones. In return, prosecutors say, Thao promised myriad political favors for the Duong family, including new city contracts for a fledgling housing company co-founded by David Duong, as well as for the Duongs’ recycling firm, California Waste Solutions.
Thao, Jones and the Duongs have all pleaded not guilty to a slew of conspiracy, bribery and fraud charges. They each face decades of prison time when their trial opens on Oct. 19.
Federal prosecutors said Azevedo was at the center of a similar scheme in San Leandro.
Prosecutors claimed Azevedo received a $2,000 cash bribe in November 2023 from another co-owner of the housing company, Evolutionary Homes. In exchange, Azevedo agreed to use his influence on the City Council to help the company secure city contracts to build housing units, according to federal charging documents.
Ahead of allegedly receiving the bribe, Azevedo created a limited liability company in his wife’s name, federal court records show. The councilman then opened a bank account at the behest of Evolutionary Homes’ leaders, all to potentially receive more kickbacks once the housing contracts were signed, federal prosecutors alleged.
Afterward, Azevedo pushed other councilmembers to pass an emergency shelter ordinance that would have made striking a deal for the housing units easier to accomplish, prosecutors claimed. At one point, federal authorities suggested Azevedo went so far as to coordinate a tour of the housing company’s model units at its Oakland waterfront showroom, the records show.
Until Wednesday, Azevedo had steadfastly maintained his innocence in increasingly bizarre media interviews.
In one interview, he denied ever being with prostitutes or using drugs while on a summer 2023 trip to Vietnam with a large delegation of East Bay elected officials, despite not being directly asked about anything like that. He said he only got massages while in Southeast Asia as part of the delegation, which included the Duongs, Thao and other East Bay officials.
He also called Andy Duong a “great guy” and longtime friend while speaking with ABC7 news. When pressed specifically about any potential arrangement between him and Evolutionary Homes, Azevedo said, “I don’t remember nothing, there was no arrangement on that.”
Check back for updates to this developing story.
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 jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.