It was March 1, 2024. Then-Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas was locked in a tight primary campaign against eight other candidates seeking the District Five seat on the powerful Alameda County Board of Supervisors. The election, which would determine the two candidates who would face off in November, was four days away.
That day, Bas had a phone call with Andy Duong, whose family company, California Waste Solutions, was negotiating with the city of Oakland over a major land deal.
In the two years since the call, Duong has become an infamous character in Oakland. He and his father are facing trial, along with former Mayor Sheng Thao and her boyfriend, over an alleged bribery scheme. But at the time, the Duongs were mainly known as local businessmen — albeit ones who’d been investigated in 2019 for allegedly breaking campaign finance laws.
On this 2024 call with Bas, Duong had some questions.
First, he asked Bas about thousands of dollars of campaign contributions he’d helped raise for her campaign.
Then, Duong segued into the land deal. For years, California Waste Solutions had been trying to develop city-owned property on the former Oakland Army Base into a modern recycling facility. But the company had fallen behind on deadlines, and its deal with the city was in danger of lapsing.
Duong wanted Bas to make sure an extension of the agreement, which would buy his company more time, was placed on an upcoming City Council agenda. And he didn’t want his family’s company to have to pay a $425,000 fee for the extension. Duong’s father, David, had also emailed the entire City Council asking for an extension the previous month.
“Yeah, the DDA, the LDDA extension, yup,” said Bas, using acronyms for the land deal. “Okay. I’ll follow up on this right now.”
“Yes, please. We appreciate,” said Duong.
(Doung’s request doesn’t appear to have panned out; the council didn’t take up the extension shortly after this call. Instead, the city administration continued negotiations with the Duongs).
The phone call, which lasted just over four minutes, sheds new light on the relationship between the Duong family and one of the East Bay’s most powerful political leaders — Bas. It offers a unique glimpse into how a city contractor attempted to influence a powerful Oakland official behind closed doors. And it reveals how California Waste Solutions may have used its network of allies to raise tens of thousands of dollars for politicians who could advance their interests.
A screenshot of a portion of a transcript of a recorded phone call between former Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and Andy Duong. Credit: United States Attorney’s Office Northern California.
Bas, who went on to win the supervisor’s race and currently serves on the board, hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing.
The contents of the call itself might never have come to light had Duong not been charged by federal prosecutors in 2025 with allegedly engaging in an elaborate pay-to-play scheme with David Duong, Thao, and Thao’s boyfriend, Andre Jones.
On Friday, prosecutors in this federal case published a transcript of the call when they filed a court motion explaining why they want to use a recording of it, taken from Andy Duong’s phone, when he goes on trial next month.
Prosecutors highlighted how Duong dropped then-Mayor Thao’s name several times during the call. According to prosecutors, Duong “viewed their connection as a source of political influence and was willing to leverage it to advance CWS’s interests.”
Granting the lease extension was one of the favors that Thao allegedly promised the Duongs, in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in bribes.
Thao, the Duongs, and Jones have all pleaded not guilty.
Bas, who is currently traveling out of the country, responded on Saturday to questions from The Oaklandside by email.
“I appreciate Oaklandside’s questions and will continue to respond transparently,” she wrote. “With regard to the conversation that occurred with Andy Duong in March of 2024, bundling is a common practice amongst supporters of all types in relation to a candidate campaign, including bundling from community supporters who are not contractors.”
Bundling is when someone gathers a number of smaller, distinct contributions and presents them in one larger donation or around the same time.
“The real question here is whether donations or support elicit inappropriate consideration on policy matters or votes,” Bas wrote. “The answer with regard to all donors – including Mr. Duong, is unequivocally no. As I do with all constituent matters, I forwarded his inquiry to City staff for their independent review and action. My team is currently conducting an audit of the funds received in the 2024 Primary Election.”
Bas is expected to appear as a prosecution witness in the October corruption trial.
Any person or company who is negotiating with the city over a contract is barred from giving money to candidates running for Oakland office. In 2019, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission launched a major investigation into allegations that David and Andy Duong illegally funnelled at least $51,000 to Oakland politicians through “straw donors.”
According to investigators, the Duongs recruited people to give money to politicians and then reimbursed them. These contributions allegedly went to many local politicians, including one to Bas’ officeholder committee in 2019, according to investigators.
The contractor ban wouldn’t have applied to Bas’ 2024 campaign because she was running for Alameda County supervisor. Even though the Duongs’ company held the city’s lucrative curbside recycling contract and was negotiating over the West Oakland land deal — and they had another company trying to get city leaders interested in purchasing housing units — it appears the Duongs would still have been free to give money directly to Bas’ supervisor campaign. Even so, it seems the Duongs did not personally give any money to Bas’ campaign. Instead, they bundled money for her, according to Bas.
Attorneys for Andy Duong did not respond to an interview request or questions sent by email.
Three individuals tied to the Duongs gave Bas $30,000 in total
Andy Duong walks towards the United States Federal Court House in Oakland on March 5, 2026. Credit: Richard H. Grant for The Oaklandside.
Duong began the 2024 phone call by asking Bas whether she was able to “get a hold of Danny.”
“Yeah, we talked, and I processed his donation. I think it went through,” Bas said.
After briefly discussing whether there was a problem processing the payment, Bas said, “I will check on it… a few donations have been able to go through.”
Duong said he was aware of another contributor to Bas’ campaign whose payment hadn’t gone through, someone named John Curtis.
Bas said she would have her treasurer and tech person examine the issue with the payment processor.
The “Danny” mentioned in the transcript appears to be an architectural designer with a company called Collaborative Design Studio. According to a campaign finance report, an individual named Dung Cao contributed $5,000 to Bas’ supervisor campaign on March 1, 2024, listing Collaborative Design Studio as his place of work. Cao, who also uses the first name Danny, according to public records, previously contributed money to Sheng Thao and former Councilmember Treva Reid, who was employed by California Waste Solutions before she joined the City Council in 2020.
Reached by phone on Friday, Cao said he knew of Bas from her time on the Oakland City Council, but he didn’t recall if he had contributed $5,000 to her supervisor campaign.
“We have not [been] involved in anything in the politics” in recent years, Cao said.
When asked if he knew Andy Duong, he said he knew of him but “never worked with him — no business with him.”
Based on public records, the company Cao works for, Collaborative Design Studio, has several ties to the Duong family.
In 2021, Duong Estuary Cove, a company controlled by the Duong family, filed preapplication permits for a housing development along Keller Avenue in the Oakland Hills. Collaborative Design Studio produced renderings for the homes.
The Duongs also control a company that has been trying to refurbish a golf clubhouse in Placer County. According to news articles, Cao is the applicant who filed permits to work on the property. Last year, Cao’s company was also involved with a different Duong company that is planning to build housing in West Oakland.
Asked about these projects in a follow-up call, Cao confirmed these were his firm’s projects, but he said he only interacts with “the project manager,” and didn’t clearly answer whether he was aware they were associated with the Duong family.
On March 8, 2024, several days after Cao contributed to Bas’s campaign, the Vietnamese American Business Association, a business promotion group operated by the Duong family, published a press release announcing Collaborative Design Studio had joined its network. Cao did not respond to a question about the relationship between the firm he works for and the Vietnamese American Business Association.
According to campaign finance reports, another individual who also works for Collaborative Design Studio gave Bas’ campaign $20,000 on February 28, 2024, the day before her call with Andy Duong. This person, who was not mentioned by Bas and Duong, appears in a video announcing the studio’s membership in the Vietnamese American Business Association.
Cao has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Neither has his company nor the other person associated with it who contributed $20,000.
John Curtis, the other person mentioned on the call between Duong and Bas as a campaign contributor, was the president and CEO of Bank of the Orient. According to campaign finance records, he donated $5,000 to Bas’ campaign on February 29, 2024.
Curtis, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, was featured in a 2023 video produced by the Vietnamese American Business Association where he talked about his career. We were unable to reach him for an interview.
Prosecutors claim that the West Oakland land deal was part of the alleged bribery scheme
The North Gateway portion of the former Oakland Army Base, as seen from Wake Avenue. Credit: Darwin BondGraham/The Oaklandside
The main subject of Bas and Duong’s phone call was California Waste Solution’s deal to take over city-owned land in West Oakland. The company, which had plans with the city for the property since 2012, had fallen behind on key benchmarks it needed to meet and was in danger of losing its option to buy and develop the property.
According to the transcript, Duong told Bas he had spoken with then-Mayor Thao about the city granting an extension for his company’s lease and development agreement.
“She asked me to check in to see if you can help put one of the item on the agenda, since you’re the Rules Committee and you’re president of council,” Duong said in the call.
“We should title it like ‘North Gateway Extension Without Fee,’” Duong added. Bas agreed to follow up.
However, later that month, David Duong notified the city that California Waste Solutions would work with city staff to extend the development agreement.
Three months later, in June 2024, the FBI shocked Oakland by raiding the homes of then-Mayor Thao and David and Andy Duong. The government indicted the political and business leaders in January 2025.
In May 2025, the city administration terminated CWS’ lease and development agreement for the site. According to city officials, CWS had failed to file overdue materials, including evidence of insurance and financial documentation, and failed to pay the $425,000 fee needed for an extension. At the time, CWS claimed that it had offered to immediately pay Oakland over $8 million for the site.
At the end of the call, Duong mentioned one more thing to Bas. He had secured a table at a “Lions Club” event and invited Bas and her spouse to join him for an event.
Bas said she had already received an invitation and was planning to attend.
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