Former Mayor Sheng Thao and two other people indicted on federal bribery charges earlier this year seek to suppress evidence seized in headline-making FBI raids last year, accusing the agency of ignoring a key informant’s “lifelong history of criminal arrests, fraud and deceit.”

Motions filed last week by Thao, her romantic partner Andre Jones, and businessman Andy Duong join a filing by Andy’s father and business partner David Duong in October and make additional arguments. 

All four people were indicted in January for allegedly concocting a bribery scheme in which the Duongs — who run Oakland’s curbside recycling company, California Waste Solutions — would help Thao get elected and pay Jones a bribe in exchange for lucrative contracts from the Thao administration. 

The US attorney’s case focuses heavily on Evolutionary Homes, a short-lived modular housing company the Duongs launched with Fruitvale businessman Mario Juarez before the founders had a falling-out. Prosecutors claim that Thao agreed to purchase their shipping container homes for the city to use as homeless shelters, in exchange for the Duongs paying Jones $95,000 for what the indictment calls a “no-show job” at the company and promising him up to $3 million more. 

The indictment refers frequently to a person called “Co-conspirator 1,” whom we’ve identified through records and interviews as Juarez. Juarez has an extensive legal history; he’s been accused in court numerous times over the past two decades of fraud and embezzlement, including in three criminal cases (he has never been convicted).  

In their new filings, lawyers for the defendants accuse a “relatively inexperienced” FBI agent of either taking the word of an unreliable source — Co-conspirator 1 — or intentionally downplaying his sordid background in the affidavit he filed to seek a search warrant for the property of Thao, Jones, and the Duongs. 

They also argue that none of the accusations provide cause for specifically searching the defendants’ homes and vehicles.

In June 2024, the FBI raided those locations, as well as the Duongs’ offices, seizing their electronics and troves of records and igniting a political firestorm in Oakland.

Thao’s lawyers say informant made up stories for ‘clout and riches’

The affidavit that led to the raids has not been made public, but it’s heavily referenced in all four recent motions and, according to the defense lawyers, is based primarily on statements and records from Co-conspirator 1. 

At the time, Co-conspirator 1 was being investigated federally for mail fraud, according to attorneys, related to attack ads targeting Thao’s opponents that he sent during the 2022 mayoral election. (The Alameda County district attorney ended up charging Juarez with fraud related to this but ultimately dropped the case). 

Lawyers for the defendants say the bribery case stems from information the government discovered in Juarez’s possession while investigating him in the mail fraud case. (Federal prosecutors have previously said they began their investigation after the city’s Public Ethics Commission brought allegations to them.)

A spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the new filings but said the government’s opposition to the motions is due Jan. 15. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment. 

“These notes appear to be Chief Cooperator’s own fever-dream ideas about how he could deceive others into believing mayoral candidate Thao was in his pocket.”

The government’s “allegations reflect one individual’s attempt to gain clout and riches through a housing development business and fabrication of a partnership with the now-former mayor of Oakland to advance his goal,” Thao’s lawyers, Jeffrey Tsai and Darryl Tarver from the firm DLA Piper, write in their motion.

They point to iCloud notes from Co-conspirator 1, whom they dub the FBI’s “Chief Cooperator,” saying that’s more accurate. (They also dispute that there’s a legal basis for keeping his identity hidden.) 

The FBI said in the affidavit that the notes in question list terms of the bribery scheme and include details from meetings with Thao. However, Thao’s lawyers claim, the dates the notes were created don’t match up with the dates of the alleged meetings.

“Far from establishing that Ms. Thao knowingly and intentionally agreed to terms in connection with some kind of illegal scheme, these notes appear to be Chief Cooperator’s own fever-dream ideas about how he could deceive others into believing mayoral candidate Thao was in his pocket,” they write.

Co-conspirator 1 “has a documented counter-attack history of alleging misconduct by others in response to accusations (and lawsuits) lodged against him,” they write. 

For example, the attorneys note that when then-District Attorney Pamela Price charged Co-conspirator 1 with fraud for allegedly passing bad checks to pay for the attack mailers, Co-conspirator 1 turned around and accused her of having solicited a bribe from him.

Thao’s attorneys claim the investigation hasn’t turned up a single record showing she participated in a bribery scheme. In fact, they argue that none of the alleged plans and favors listed in the iCloud notes came to fruition. They point to a “letter of interest” drafted by Co-conspirator 1, intended for Thao to sign, indicating Oakland would pursue the purchase of Evolutionary Homes units. But she never signed it, her attorneys say, and it doesn’t appear the city ever came close to buying the housing.

Federal prosecutors have alleged that Thao did successfully push for the appointment of a city employee to a senior housing department position because he was friendly to the Duongs. The employee they’re referring to, Larry Gallegos, abruptly left the city the same day the indictment was unsealed. He hasn’t been accused of any crimes.

Informant was racially biased, lawyers claim
The offices of California Waste Solutions at 1211 Embarcadero also served as the office of Evolutionary Homes, the company launched by the Duong family and Mario Juarez. Credit: Darwin BondGraham

Thao’s lawyers argue in their filing that Co-conspirator 1 exhibited racial prejudice against Jones, who is Black. They say the FBI knew about their source’s bias but omitted it in the agent’s affidavit.

The affidavit included excerpts from a text exchange between Andy Duong and Co-Conspirator 1, in which the latter texts Duong that Jones wants “direct access” to money. 

Thao’s lawyers include the complete text exchange in their new motion, which shows that, in texts omitted in the affidavit, Co-conspirator 1 writes “stupid black shit” in reference to Jones’ request and writes of Jones that he “don’t think how things get done.”

Duong responded, “Well he wants that access better get to work,” and, “Aint nothing free or front cuz we did all that to help her ass win.”

“There can be no dispute that the meaning is anything other than a race-bias motivation,” the lawyers write, accusing the FBI of “surgically” removing those texts to obtain the search warrant. 

Andre Jones’ motion acknowledges that the FBI says it has checks amounting to $95,000 from Evolutionary Homes to Jones, with memos stating they were “advances” on the sale of homes from the company. According to an agreement written by Co-conspirator 1, those amounts were payments toward an eventual fee of $300,000 that would be paid to Jones if 300 housing units were sold by the end of 2023. 

But Jones’ lawyers, Mark Goldrosen and Shawn Halbert, also point to records they say show that Thao ignored some requests for meetings with Evolutionary Homes or referred company representatives to city staff. 

Together, those facts, the lawyers argue, “do not come close” to a finding of probable cause to search Jones’ property for bribery evidence. 

The motion notes that while Jones and Thao had some phone and text contact with Co-conspirator 1 ahead of the 2022 election, Jones declined to participate in devising the language for the mailers Co-conspirator 1 was making to attack Thao’s opponents, because, he said in a text, that would constitute illegal “coordination.” 

Jones’ lawyers say the FBI agent seeking the search warrant took an unreasonable leap, extrapolating from these records that Jones must have secretly coordinated with Co-conspirator 1 over the phone, using the text exchange to cover his tracks — instead of taking at face value that Jones was trying to follow the law. 

“The government relied on a relatively inexperienced agent who adopted the informant’s version of events and ignored critical evidence that undermined the credibility of the informant,” Goldrosen and Halbert write. They argue that in addition to omitting some facts and drawing speculative conclusions, the FBI agent got a critical date wrong in the affidavit.

Further undermining Co-conspirator 1’s credibility, Jones’ lawyers argue, are conflicting statements that Co-conspirator 1 made to the police and the FBI the day after a shootout outside his residence in June 2024. Juarez has publicly spoken about being the target of this shooting and has accused the Duongs of orchestrating it, which they deny.

Jones’ lawyers also claim the gun Co-conspirator 1 later brought to law enforcement was different than the one he reported firing in the incident, and note that while he told law enforcement that he fired his weapon in self-defense, surveillance records show he fired the first shot. Their motion also details investigations into Juarez for money laundering and fraud.

Halbert told The Oaklandside that “so much is missing” about Co-conspirator 1’s past in the affidavit that was submitted to the judge.

“When an agent goes to the judge, the judge is relying on the agent to disclose everything she would want to know,” Halbert told us. “In this case, so much is missing that would be relevant to the judge’s determination of credibility.” 

Halbert declined to comment on the specifics of the government’s evidence, like the checks paid to Jones by Evolutionary Homes.

Notorious text messages come under scrutiny
A screenshot of an interview with Mario Juarez from a video posted by the Vietnamese American Business Association, which is run by the Duong family, before the collapse of Evolutionary Homes. Credit: VABA

As in the Jones filing, Andy Duong’s lawyers accuse the feds of “inexplicably omitting a robust history” that undermines their source’s credibility.

In their motion, Duong’s attorneys portray their client as the frequent, unwitting recipient of a barrage of “erratic” and “unsolicited” texts from Co-conspirator 1, which he often ignored or responded to curtly.

Andy Duong’s texts with Co-conspirator 1 are key evidence in the government’s case. Most infamously, Co-conspirator 1 texted, “So we may go to jail… but we are $100 million dollars richer.”

Duong’s lawyers say this text is part of an exchange from Nov. 18, 2022. At that time, Price had just been declared winner of the district attorney race, but the nail-biter race for mayor, between front-runners Thao and Loren Taylor, would not be decided for a few more days. 

Duong’s lawyers claim the text about jail was “a tongue-in-cheek reaction to the consequence of the winner being a candidate Co-conspirator 1 did not support.” 

As for Duong’s response — “Money buys everything.” — his lawyers argue that this was simply a “common adage about politics,” referencing Price’s unexpected win.

When Co-conspirator 1 responds, “Plus, we have a 10 year extension to CWS,” referring to the contract with California Waste Solutions, the lawyers call it a “non-sequitor.” A contract extension is one of the favors that prosecutors say Thao promised the Duongs in the alleged bribery scheme.

Duong is represented by attorneys from the firms Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Covington & Burling; and the Law Offices of Erik Babcock. 

Lawyers for Duong and Thao did not respond to interview requests for this story. Juarez referred us to his lawyer, Ernie Castillo. Reached by phone, Castillo declined to comment, saying, “I’m not involved in the federal side of this.” 

The attorneys are jointly asking for a hearing in February, where they could question the FBI agent who wrote the affidavit.

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