{"id":296514,"date":"2026-05-02T11:58:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T11:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296514\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T11:58:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T11:58:32","slug":"guns-cash-weed-taken-from-andy-duongs-home-in-2024-says-fbi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296514\/","title":{"rendered":"Guns, cash, weed taken from Andy Duong\u2019s home in 2024, says FBI"},"content":{"rendered":"

When FBI agents barged into<\/a> Andy Duong\u2019s Oakland hills home in June 2024, The Oaklandside watched as agents exited his house with seized materials.<\/p>\n

But exactly what they found has remained a mystery for close to two years. A court filing describing the raid was redacted \u2014 until now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The federal judge overseeing the bribery case<\/a> that ensnared Andy, his father David, and former Mayor Sheng Thao and her romantic partner Andre Jones, recently unsealed some sensitive portions of the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to a court briefing prosecutors originally filed in January, which was unredacted yesterday, the 2024 search of Andy Duong\u2019s home turned up \u201ca significant amount of cash, a cash counter, and a significant number of firearms as well as ammunition.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Agents also recovered \u201cmultiple gallon sized bags of marijuana,\u201d prosecutors wrote. That same day, agents also obtained a warrant to seize \u201ctens of thousands of dollars in cash and ammunition\u201d at David Duong\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

At Andy\u2019s home, agents also found a Rolex watch and necklace \u201cmatching the description of the watch and necklace Co-Conspirator 1 alleged was stolen from him on May 3, 2024.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The government recently confirmed \u201cCo-Conspirator 1\u201d is Mario Juarez, a Fruitvale businessman and political operative who previously partnered with the Duongs to sell shipping container homes<\/a> to Bay Area cities. This news organization reported on Juarez\u2019s connection to the Duongs shortly after the FBI raids in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

David and Andy run California Waste Solutions<\/a>, Oakland\u2019s curbside recycling contractor. Federal prosecutors have accused the Duongs of scheming with Thao, Jones, and Juarez to get Thao into the mayor\u2019s office in exchange for lucrative contracts, land deals, and influence over political appointments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The documents released this week give the public a glimpse into the life of one of the main defendants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An attorney for Andy Duong declined an interview request but said that his client\u2019s firearms were all licensed and said the \u201csupposed marijuana\u201d was not seized from the house. The attorney also noted that no charges have been filed for these items.<\/p>\n

Juarez did not respond to interview requests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office also declined to comment on the unsealed information.<\/p>\n

Jewelry seized in raid may bolster informant\u2019s claims<\/p>\n

\"\"\/FBI agents leaving Andy Duong\u2019s home on June 20, 2024. Credit: Darwin BondGraham\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n

The recovery of allegedly stolen items lends some credence to Juarez\u2019s allegation<\/a> that he was beaten outside of the Duongs\u2019 Oakland office building in May 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a letter<\/a> sent to officials at the Port of Oakland in May 2024, Juarez described himself as a business partner of the Duongs in a company called Evolutionary Homes<\/a>, which was headquartered in the Duongs\u2019 California Waste Solutions building on Embarcadero in Oakland, which is leased by the Duongs from the Port of Oakland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to various public records and the federal indictment, the Duongs and Juarez planned to build modular shipping container homes and sell them to cities, including Oakland, for use as homeless housing. These plans never came to fruition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his letter, Juarez claimed that he attempted to enter the company building on May 3 of that year but discovered that the Duongs had changed the locks. Juarez wrote that he confronted David Duong and two of his relatives, including Andy, on the first floor of the building.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the ensuing argument, Juarez alleged that David Duong instructed Andy to contact the police. According to Juarez, several individuals showed up and \u201corchestrated a physical assault and robbery\u201d against him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was brutally attacked and had valuable items stolen, including a high-value watch, heirloom jewelry, cash, documents, and phones,\u201d Juarez alleged. He filed a report<\/a> with the Oakland police, making the same allegations, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.<\/p>\n

Juarez claimed that he was also forced to make a video apology to David Duong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

David Duong called Juarez\u2019s allegations \u201cbizarre and disturbing\u201d in a letter<\/a> he sent the port after Juarez had contacted their landlord. Duong wrote that Juarez\u2019s claims were \u201coutrageous and fictitious,\u201d and that neither Juarez nor Evolutionary Homes had ever been tenants in the building.<\/p>\n

FBI agents say they found a Rolex watch and necklace matching the description of Juarez\u2019s property inside Andy Duong\u2019s home, according to the new unredacted court records.<\/p>\n

Some of the items found in Andy Duong\u2019s house, including the large amounts of cash, a cash counting machine, firearms, ammunition, and large quantities of cannabis, raise questions about his business outside of California Waste Solutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Duong was allegedly connected to a Chinatown karaoke bar<\/a> that was shut down by state agents with the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control in 2018 for sex trafficking and narcotics. The owner and manager of the bar were also accused by city and state political regulators of participating in a political money laundering operation with Duong.<\/p>\n

According to an investigation by the Oakland Public Ethics Commission, Andy Duong allegedly engaged in a years-long scheme to illegally funnel money<\/a> to the political campaigns of local politicians. As a city contractor, CWS is barred from making donations to candidates and politicians in Oakland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The PEC alleged that Andy Duong skirted this rule with straw donors \u2014 friends and acquaintances whom he reimbursed for making contributions to favored politicians. Investigators with the state Fair Political Practices Commission investigation alleged in an investigative document from 2021<\/a> \u2014 part of a related probe of political money laundering \u2014 that Andy Duong handed out cash to intermediaries who recruited straw donors.<\/p>\n

On social media<\/a>, Andy Duong shows off a lavish lifestyle, including trips to Las Vegas and night clubs. In many posts, Duong promotes an entertainment company he\u2019s a founder of called Lieu Bros LLC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Judge denies Duongs\u2019, Thao\u2019s attempt to throw out evidence<\/p>\n

\"\"Mario Juarez, shown here in a video posted by the Vietnamese American Business Association, accused the Duongs of assaulting and robbing him in 2024. Credit: VABA<\/p>\n

The prosecution\u2019s newly unredacted filings about the FBI\u2019s June 2024 raids were drafted in response to an attempt by the Duongs, Thao, and Jones to get the evidence collected during those raids tossed out.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the defendants filed motions claiming the government\u2019s case was built on the word of an informant known for engaging in dishonesty and fraud<\/a>. They accused the FBI of knowingly seeking and obtaining search warrants based on Juarez\u2019s untrustworthy testimony. Their court motions asked for a chance to question the FBI agent that sought the search warrants.<\/p>\n

The government opposed their motion, but until now, some of the key information provided by prosecutors was hidden behind black redaction boxes.<\/p>\n

During a hearing last month<\/a>, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said there was no good reason to keep certain information \u2014 including Juarez\u2019s identity, which has been widely assumed by the press and public \u2014 under wraps. She told lawyers on both sides to get together and figure out which filings to unseal.<\/p>\n

And earlier this week, Rogers issued a ruling denying<\/a> the Duongs\u2019 and Thao\u2019s attempt to suppress the evidence collected during the raids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More records are likely to be unredacted in the near future, per an agreement between the defendants and the prosecutors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A trial is set for Oct. 19.<\/p>\n

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