The FBI’s sweeping corruption investigation into former-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao began less than two months into her recall-shortened term, with a February 2023 tip from the Oakland Public Ethics Commission about controversial mailers that targeted her political opponents, a federal agent revealed in court testimony Monday.
The revelation highlighted the second day of testimony in the trial of Thao, her decade-long romantic partner, Andre Jones, and the father-son business duo of David and Andy Duong. The disclosure came amid hours of testimony on the campaign mailers that, prosecutors say, formed a key component of the alleged bribery pact and were meant to help lift Thao into the mayor’s office in the November 2022 election.
Special Agent Katherine Barclay said the city’s ethics commission approached the FBI in February 2023 about a businessowner who had been hired to help produce the mailers by a longtime political operative, Mario Juarez.
That businessowner, Samari Johnson, then told FBI agents that he had been stiffed by Juarez, and that the lack of payments for those mailers had been impacting his printing business, Butterfly Direct Marketing, according to court testimony. Johnson also told federal agents that Juarez made statements about the mayoral candidate he had supported, Barclay added.
FBI agents subsequently secured search warrants for Juarez’s iCloud account, during which investigators found evidence of “a potential larger bribery scheme,” Barclay testified.
Among the items discovered on that account: An electronic note that was shared in a WhatsApp message with Andy Duong titled “Deal Points for Sheng Thao :: Election :: Post Election::.” It outlined a laundry list of favors promised between Thao, Jones and the Duongs — among them $75,000 for the mailers from the for Duongs’ recycling business, California Waste Solutions.
The Apple note called for the mailers — three varieties of which were produced — to reach 68,000 households each.
Prosecutors say the bribery scheme also called for Jones to receive a no-show job through a company co-founded by David Duong and Mario Juarez, called Evolutionary Homes. In return, Thao allegedly promised that the city would purchase 300 housing units from the business, and agreed to see through a decade-long extension for California Waste Solutions’ city recycling contract, according to her indictment.
All four defendants have pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges, including conspiracy to commit bribery and wire and mail fraud. The most serious offenses carry a potential 20-year prison term.
Juarez previously pleaded guilty to engaging in a conspiracy to commit bribery and is expected to be called by prosecutors to testify as their star witness in the case. Further details — including when Juarez entered his plea — have not yet been made public, however, and his case does not appear in a publicly searchable federal database, suggesting it may have been sealed.
Defense attorneys have repeatedly hammered Juarez, a former two-time City Council candidate, and his credibility before and during trial, suggesting he lied to prosecutors in order to secure a more lenient sentence. In opening statements, they lampooned him as “the master of half-truths,” also calling him “a sophisticated political operator” and “a consummate hustler.”
In contrast, prosecutors have stressed that they began their investigation long before ever speaking with Juarez. In filings ahead of trial, prosecutors claimed to have built their case on reams of texts, videos and other documents found on the defendants’ phones.
For a time, Juarez also faced state charges for the bounced checks he allegedly wrote to Johnson for the 2022 mailers. Alameda County prosecutors filed a felony check fraud case against him in January 2024, though prosecutors moved to dismiss it the following year, citing a lack of evidence and concerns it could not be proven at trial.
Part of prosecutors’ concerns stemmed from allegations by Juarez of a shakedown attempt by then-District Attorney Pamela Price, who strongly denied that she had filed the case in retaliation for Juarez’s reluctance to donate $25,000 to her political campaign. The alleged ultimatum happened during a visit by Price to Evolutionary Homes’ showroom in January 2023, roughly two weeks before the charges were filed.
In court filings, federal prosecutors listed Johnson as a potential witness ahead of Thao’s corruption trial. It remains unclear if, or when, he may take the stand.
The mailers dominated testimony Monday — particularly during questioning of a former campaign consultant for Thao’s 2022 mayoral campaign.
That consultant, Noah Finneburgh, recalled the reaction inside Thao’s campaign as early excitement about the mailers gave way to concern about their “racist” undertones.
The mailers targeted Thao’s main political rivals in that election — among them Loren Taylor, who is Black and whose face appeared to be digitally altered. His picture, which appeared to be to be cribbed from a newspaper portrait of Taylor standing in a partial shadow, depicted him with reddened eyes, a digitally-altered frown and a newly-arched eyebrow, Finneburgh testified.
Finneburgh said he personally found the mailers to be “offensive,” and worked with Jones — who often doubled as a close “advisor’ to Thao throughout her campaign — to draft a response to the ads. In a subsequent social media post, Thao’s campaign condemned the mailers and stressed they were sent by an independent expenditure committee that was outside of Thao’s control.
Neither Thao nor Jones mentioned knowing anything about the mailers ahead of time, Finneburgh testified. Nor did the couple mention having spoken to Mario Juarez — who led the independent expenditure committee — before they were sent, he said.
On cross-examination, Thao’s attorney focused on Juarez’s alleged role in the mailers.
“You’d agree with me that the person or persons responsible for putting out such a mailer is a pretty sick mind, no?” asked the attorney, Jeff Tsai.
“I would say, yeah, they misunderstood the electorate. I would not agree with their approach,” Finneburgh testified, adding “the person who did it has problems.”
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.