{"id":497461,"date":"2026-10-16T00:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T00:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/497461\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T00:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T00:18:09","slug":"ex-oakland-mayors-chief-of-staff-takes-stand-in-corruption-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/497461\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Oakland mayor’s chief of staff takes stand in corruption trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Time and again, ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao\u2019s chief of staff clashed with her boss on proposals that played central roles in the alleged bribery scheme<\/a> that would later lead to the mayor\u2019s indictment by a federal grand jury, court testimony in the trial of the former mayor and three other defendants\u00a0revealed Thursday.<\/p>\n

That staffer, Leigh Hanson<\/a>, pulled back the curtain Thursday on Thao\u2019s tumultuous, recall-shortened term as the city\u2019s mayor in 2023 and 2024, when\u00a0prosecutors say she had sold access to the mayor\u2019s office by accepting bribes from the\u00a0family<\/a> in charge of the city\u2019s recycling contractor, California Waste Solutions.<\/p>\n

At no point Thursday did prosecutors\u00a0suggest Hanson knew of the alleged scheme, which called for thousands of dollars in illicit payoffs<\/a> to the mayor and her partner, Andre Jones, in exchange for vast influence within City Hall for the father-son business duo of David and Andy Duong. That ]included an alleged promise that the city of Oakland would\u00a0purchase upwards of 300 housing units at a cost of $300,000 each from a company the Duongs helped found, called Evolutionary Homes.<\/p>\n

The quartet faces a slew of charges<\/a> in connection with the alleged scheme, including conspiracy to commit bribery and wire and mail fraud; all four have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

Disagreements come to light<\/p>\n

Hanson on Thursday largely dismissed the viability of any city partnership with Evolutionary Homes \u2013 which allegedly served as a key vehicle for $95,000 in bribery payments \u2013 the first time that Thao introduced her to the company, she testified Thursday.<\/p>\n

In a previously unreported meeting, Thao and Hanson met with one of the company\u2019s representatives in May 2023 over Zoom for a 30-minute pitch on how the business could use repurposed shipping containers to house homeless families. Hanson came away unimpressed, saying the proposal \u201cdid not address the largest concerns for local governments\u201d of where to put the homes, or how to connect them with electricity and\u00a0plumbing.<\/p>\n

At no point did Thao mention she had already spoken to the company\u2019s founders, that Jones had already been tapped to work as a consultant for the business or that the Duong family was running it, Hanson said.<\/p>\n

The former chief of staff recalled homelessness being a priority for Thao, citing how the mayor lived in a car when her son was born and was \u201cvery focused on making sure any solutions we were providing were of the highest quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys seized on that interest, eliciting testimony Thursday that Thao personally introduced Hanson to the CEO of another housing company, Pallet Shelter. The mayor, Hanson added, was \u201cvery taken by Pallet, and thought they were a good company and worth considering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vietnam trip becomes point of friction<\/p>\n

More fireworks erupted when Thao insisted on leading a delegation trip to Vietnam largely funded by the Duongs mere months into her term.<\/p>\n

Hanson thought the trip should wait, given how \u201cit would be challenging to describe to the public why she was in a foreign country, if we had a public safety incident that required attention.\u201d Thao disagreed \u2013 saying it was vital to \u201cplant the seed\u201d of economic ties between Vietnam and Oakland early in her administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was heated,\u201d Hanson said.<\/p>\n

David Duong coordinated much of the August 2023 trip, which included a host of local elected officials \u2013 among them Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez and Supervisor Lena Tam. A trade organization his family ran, the Vietnamese American Business Association, paid for much of the trip, though Hanson was adamant that Thao\u2019s expenses be covered by the Port of Oakland. Prosecutors say the Duongs and the business association also paid travel expenses for Jones and his daughter during the trip, as well as for Thao and her son\u2019s visit to Thailand afterward.<\/p>\n

Hanson recalled viewing the Duong family warily, having read media reports detailing political donations that \u201cwere not very flattering.\u201d The family had previously been investigated by city and state regulators over\u00a0a widespread straw donor scheme, allegedly involving illicit campaign payments to a host of Bay Area politicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of my job as the chief of staff was to evaluate political risk,\u201d Hanson said. \u201cAnd I was concerned her continued affiliation would associate her with those accusations of improper electoral activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

One potential crisis emerged just weeks later.<\/p>\n

Hanson testified about an emergency meeting with Thao later that fall over an inquiry from an unnamed reporter, who was digging into allegations that several delegation members had been stopped by customs enforcement agents amid concerns of drug paraphernalia and sex trafficking of minors.<\/p>\n

Immediately, Hanson and the city\u2019s communications chief drafted a crisis communications plan.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Thao vented her frustrations to Hanson that some members of the delegation could have participated in that type of activity. She saved her greatest wrath for Andy Duong, calling him a \u201cf\u2014\u2014 playboy,\u201d Hanson testified.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has always been trouble,\u201d her chief of staff recalled Thao saying. \u201cHe\u2019s going to ruin my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

No such article ever ran. Prior to the trial, prosecutors alleged that the Duongs paid an associate of the reporter $10,000 to kill the story.<\/p>\n

Surprise visits and an alleged threat<\/p>\n

Through it all, Jones served as a frequent presence within the administration \u2013 appearing on text chains with city staffers and in one instance blowing up a meeting over a brewing policing scandal \u2014 despite the fact he was never hired as a city employee.<\/p>\n

Hanson recalled sharing her \u201csurprise and frustration\u201d with Jones in January 2023 after he unexpectedly logged into a video interview of\u00a0a candidate to serve as Thao\u2019s point person on housing-related matters. Hanson later wasn\u2019t able to hire that person, and she ended up assuming that role herself.<\/p>\n

Also that month, Jones tried to attend a meeting involving Thao, Hanson and the city attorney regarding the decision to place the city\u2019s police chief, LeRonne Armstrong, on administrative leave. Hanson called the summit off, given that Jones\u2019 presence could nullify the mayor\u2019s attorney-client privilege.<\/p>\n

Afterward, she recalled Jones leveling a threat in her direction, saying: \u201cWe\u2019ll see which one of us is left at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones had played an important role in Thao\u2019s life, acting as a \u201cclose advisor\u201d and someone she \u201ctrusted,\u201d but Thao was \u201cnot interested in being married or ever having joint finances\u201d with Jones, Hanson said. On cross-examination from Jones\u2019 attorney, Hanson said the mayor even considered leaving him and getting a place of her own at various points in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Time and again, ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao\u2019s chief of staff clashed with her boss on proposals that played…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[21212,21215,4415,143,145,144,4312,1428],"class_list":["post-497461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-andy-duong","tag-david-duong","tag-mayor","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-sheng-thao","tag-trial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497461","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=497461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}