{"id":156737,"date":"2026-01-30T16:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T16:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156737\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T16:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T16:57:13","slug":"fbis-use-of-informant-tested-in-corruption-case-against-oaklands-former-mayor-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156737\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI\u2019s Use of Informant Tested in Corruption Case Against Oakland\u2019s Former Mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a legal filing this week, Thao\u2019s attorneys pushed back on that argument, saying that the documentary chain of evidence establishing Thao\u2019s involvement in the scheme relies on Juarez\u2019s text messages and notes.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors also pointed out they had warned the magistrate judge in a multipage footnote about information relevant to Juarez\u2019s credibility, and described his possible motivations for cooperating with the government.<\/p>\n

They say the affidavit made clear that Co-Conspirator 1 \u201cappears to be \u2026 motivated by revenge against the Duongs and a desire to obtain protection from law enforcement from the Duongs, among any number of other potential personal motivations he may have\u201d and also that Co-Conspirator 1 \u201cappears to be talking \u2018with the hope of obtaining some form of leniency in exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n

Information about Juarez\u2019s past that defendants claim the FBI left out of the affidavit consisted in part of \u201cdecades-old unsworn civil complaints,\u201d news articles and other information, they wrote.<\/p>\n

Those complaints and other materials, at most, establish \u201cthat Co-Conspirator 1 has been repeatedly accused of fraud in civil litigation over the years,\u201d they argued. \u201cIt is a far cry, however, from the \u2018decadeslong pattern of repeatedly being found liable for defrauding business partners,\u2019 that Defendants purport it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors admit that the FBI agent who wrote the June 14, 2024, affidavit was not aware of every detail of Juarez\u2019s past legal issues when it was filed.<\/p>\n

But, they argue, he was not responsible for doing the additional investigation.<\/p>\n

Defendants \u201ccite no precedent for the suggestion that agents must search and disclose all court records related to civil lawsuits related to informants, nor could they,\u201d the filing reads. What\u2019s more, they argue, given the information the government did disclose, not including every detail of Juarez\u2019s civil litigation history, \u201ccannot be considered to be reckless or material\u201d \u2014 a key element of meeting the Franks standard.<\/p>\n

The 2024 shooting<\/p>\n

Defendants also accuse the FBI of leaving out key information about a June 9, 2024, shooting that took place in front of Juarez\u2019s Fruitvale home three days after he first spoke with agents.<\/p>\n

According to David Duong\u2019s attorneys, the June 14 search warrant affidavit had framed the shooting as a possible attempt to murder Juarez, orchestrated by the Duongs because they had learned he was cooperating with the FBI.<\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, FBI agents believed at the time that the shooting could have been a targeted attack by the Duongs.<\/p>\n

\"\"A California Waste Solutions worker empties recycling bins in the Rockridge neighborhood on April 22, 2020, in Oakland, California. A campaign finance investigation into the city\u2019s curbside recycling contractor has received renewed attention since the FBI raids. (Yalonda M. James\/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that the shooting occurred three days after Co-Conspirator 1 spoke to federal law enforcement, Co-Conspirator 1\u2019s prior allegations that the Duongs had directed an assault on him, as well as suspicious phone tolls leading up to the shooting, the FBI believed that Co-Conspirator 1 may have been part of a targeted attack instigated by the Duongs,\u201d the government\u2019s filing reads.<\/p>\n

But Duong\u2019s attorneys allege Juarez lied to law enforcement about what happened that night in an attempt to incriminate the Duongs and save himself from his own legal troubles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe affidavit omits evidence, collected by the FBI immediately after the shooting, that suggests the shooting was not an assassination attempt but a botched car burglary,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

According to the government\u2019s filing, Juarez had initially reported to OPD and the FBI that he confronted two individuals breaking into this vehicle, one of whom shot at him, and he returned fire. Months later, FBI agents ascertained through analysis of Juarez\u2019s interview after the shooting, surveillance footage and Shot Spotter reports that Juarez likely shot first, rather than returning fire.<\/p>\n

When they interviewed him again, he changed his story, they said.<\/p>\n

\"\"David Duong talks with attendees after a private screening of The King of Trash on Jan. 10, 2026, at Regal Jack London in Oakland. (Gustavo Hernandez\/KQED)<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring that interview, Co-Conspirator 1 stated that he shot first after another individual pointed a firearm at him, and he believed his life was in danger,\u201d the filing reads.<\/p>\n

Juarez said he couldn\u2019t recall what he initially told OPD about the shooting and that he might have miscommunicated about the sequence of events.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring that interview, Co-Conspirator 1 continued to state that he believed the shooting was orchestrated by the Duongs,\u201d the filing states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a legal filing this week, Thao\u2019s attorneys pushed back on that argument, saying that the documentary chain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-156737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}