{"id":414364,"date":"2026-07-27T21:24:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T21:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/414364\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T21:24:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T21:24:56","slug":"fbi-informant-already-pleaded-guilty-in-sheng-thao-corruption-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/414364\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI informant already pleaded guilty in Sheng Thao corruption case"},"content":{"rendered":"

The FBI\u2019s key informant in the corruption case<\/a> against former Mayor Sheng Thao and others has already pleaded guilty to conspiring with them to commit bribery.<\/p>\n

The revelation, made by federal prosecutors in a court filing last week, comes just months before the high-profile trial of his alleged co-conspirators in Oakland. The informant, Mario Juarez, is the second key player connected to a sprawling East Bay corruption case, along with former San Leandro Councilmember Bryan Azevedo, to take a guilty plea and agree to help prosecutors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Juarez, a Fruitvale entrepreneur and politico who has an extensive history with the legal system<\/a>, is one of the government\u2019s main sources in the case set for trial in October. He plans to testify there, according to new court filings.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Juarez launched a tiny-home company, Evolutionary Homes<\/a>, with David and Andy Duong, the owners of Oakland\u2019s curbside recycling company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors allege that the Duongs bribed Thao and her partner Andre Jones to secure city contracts for Evolutionary Homes and the recycling company, California Waste Solutions. The bribes allegedly included paying for ads attacking Thao\u2019s opponent in the 2022 election, and paying Jones for a lucrative no-show job.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The feds began investigating<\/a> after checks Juarez wrote for the 2022 political attack ads bounced. Juarez later had a dramatic falling-out with the Duongs and fed information to the FBI that led to the June 2024 raids<\/a> of the homes of Thao and Jones and the Duongs, along with the California Waste Solutions building.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment<\/a> charging the four with conspiracy and more. The four defendants have pleaded not guilty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Thao, Jones, and the Duongs had asked a federal judge to withhold several pieces of evidence<\/a> that they argued were unrelated to the corruption allegations. They have also previously tried unsuccessfully to suppress other evidence<\/a>, and called into question Juarez\u2019s credibility, citing his track record of lawsuits and alleged misconduct<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The prosecution argues that the evidence in question is in fact related. And their motions have been mini bombshells: The court filings include numerous allegations not previously revealed, and telegraph the strategy the government is likely to take this fall as it seeks conviction for Thao, Jones, and the Duongs.<\/p>\n

Juarez did not immediately respond to an interview request. The Oaklandside also reached out to attorneys for Thao, Jones, David Duong, and Azevedo for interviews but did not receive responses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response to The Oaklandside\u2019s inquiry, Winston Chan, an attorney for Andy Duong, said in an email, \u201cWe will let our briefing<\/a> speak for itself, but it is important to note that our motion is directed at the admissibility of the government\u2019s proffered and alleged evidence, which relates to conduct that Andy Duong has never been charged with. The motion does not concede the veracity or characterization of the government\u2019s allegations at issue.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Juarez is expected to testify about alleged blackmail videos, no-show jobs, and a fight<\/p>\n

\"ThaoProsecutors allege that Sheng Thao arranged for payments to her partner Andre Jones, center in gray suit, in exchange for a \u201cno-show job.\u201d Credit: Estefany Gonzalez for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n

The government expects Juarez to testify that Andy Duong told him he \u201cregularly took surreptitious photos and videos of politicians in compromising positions for potential use against them.\u201d Prosecutors claim this testimony is corroborated by \u201cdozens of such videos, photos, and recordings\u201d they found on Duong\u2019s phone, which was taken during the June FBI raids of his home and office.<\/p>\n

Juarez is also expected to testify about the alleged bribery arrangement where the Duongs paid Thao and Jones by creating a no-show job for Jones at Evolutionary Homes. According to prosecutors, Juarez will claim this arrangement was Thao\u2019s idea, and that she requested the payments be funnelled through Jones to conceal her involvement in the alleged scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Juarez is also expected to testify about a physical altercation that he had near the Evolutionary Homes offices on May 3, 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to court filings, Juarez went to the office that day and discovered he was locked out. He confronted David and Andy Duong, during which he threatened to expose their alleged criminal activity. The government states that Juarez will testify that as he was walking away, several individuals assaulted him and robbed him of a gold chain, watch, and phone. Federal agents say they later recovered<\/a> some of these items during the June 20, 2024 raid of Andy Duong\u2019s residence, according to court filings published earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shortly after the alleged altercation, Juarez reported the incident to OPD and began cooperating with the FBI.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the government, Andy Duong texted an Oakland police officer \u201che had a long-term relationship with\u201d on the same day of the altercation. After the officer agreed to send someone the next day to take a police report, Duong texted his father and other family members that \u201cone of my personal OPD will contact me tomorrow around 11-12 to come and do report.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI defended your family\u201d: Recordings reference alleged bribes of Oakland officials <\/p>\n

Prosecutors say they plan to show a video that Andy Duong recorded in October 2022 at the California Waste Solutions office, allegedly featuring Juarez and the Duongs celebrating the launch of their company, Evolutionary Homes<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the same day, Juarez allegedly reached out to Thao to set up a meeting to discuss the negative mailer campaign and to secure a commitment from her to have the city purchase housing units. In the final days before the election, Oaklanders were flooded with glossy mailers attacking<\/a> Loren Taylor and Ignacio De La Fuente, two of Thao\u2019s top opponents in the mayoral race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the video, Juarez toasts the partnership and talks about his relationship with the Duongs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day after you won the City of Oakland contract, you were there, paying everyone, everyone was like f***ing piranhas,\u201d Juarez says in the recording, according to prosecutors. \u201cI was there, I was in your office, $50,000, $100,000, whatever it was, and you say what do you want and I said I just want to do business with you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Juarez is expected to testify in court that this statement was a reference to the Duongs allegedly giving cash to multiple public officials in exchange for their assistance in helping California Waste Solutions secure its recycling contract with Oakland in 2014, according to the court filing. At the time, the City Council went against the advice of staff and tried to award all three of Oakland\u2019s garbage contracts<\/a> to CWS. This sparked a lawsuit from a competing firm, Waste Management, which was later settled after the city agreed to give CWS only the recycling contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the toast video, Juarez allegedly tells the Duongs, \u201cI defended your family, I defend CWS, I defend them physically, we advocate for CWS every time we have a problem, if anyone f***s with CWS, I have stepped up to the plate, and I think I\u2019ve proven that time and time again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Juarez also says in the video his friendship with the Duongs is a \u201clong term strategy\u201d and that he hopes to do many projects with the family so \u201cthat we make a lot of money,\u201d according to prosecutors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors claim that Andy Duong recorded a second video shortly after the first, portraying Juarez making a similar yet \u201csanitized\u201d version of his previous speech \u2014 without references to payments to city officials \u2014 at the urging of a Duong family member. In the second video, the Duong family member allegedly tells Juarez to \u201ckeep it PG.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Juarez\u2019s alleged role in trying to squash a scandalous story<\/p>\n

\"ShengThao_USFEDCourt_March5-1\"\/Sheng Thao, pictured with her attorney, allegedly got angry when she learned a reporter was looking into the events of a Vietnam trade trip with the Duongs. Credit: Richard H. Grant for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say they have text messages that reveal how Juarez and the Duongs tried to suppress a potentially damaging news story about the 2023 Vietnam trip. Numerous public officials from the East Bay traveled on the junket, which was organized and paid for by the Duongs\u2019 business organization, the Vietnamese American Business Association<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several months after the trip, Steven Tavares, a reporter who runs East Bay Insiders<\/a>, made inquiries about rumors of misconduct by officials on the trip, according to the court filing. In the motion, prosecutors stated, \u201cSeveral months after the Vietnam trip, a reporter began asking questions about the trip, including whether San Leandro City Councilmember Bryan Azevedo had engaged in sexual conduct with prostitutes during the trip.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

An attorney for Azevedo didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say they have witnesses who will testify that Thao became upset after learning Tavares was sniffing around for a possible story and said if a negative report came out about the trip, she couldn\u2019t work with David Duong anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors claim that this prompted David and Andy Duong and Juarez to meet with an associate of the reporter in Livermore in December 2023. They allegedly gave him a $10,000 check to prevent the story from being published. The check was drawn from CWS\u2019s bank account, prosecutors claim. They also have the recording of a call between Andy Duong and Azevedo about the unwanted story.<\/p>\n

Tavares disclosed his link to the case in his newsletter last month, claiming that his former podcast host, Shawn Wilson, told him about taking a $10,000 payment <\/a>from the Duongs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wilson, chief of staff to Alameda County Board of Supervisors President David Haubert, told The Oaklandside he was paid to help develop a public narrative that would assist them in winning a new garbage contract. Wilson also confirmed that he facilitated an offer to Tavares from CWS to sponsor the podcast, but denied it was to influence any reporting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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