![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/260903-ShengThaoTrial-13.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFBI Special Agent Katherine Barclay is expected to describe evidence the agency collected in its raids of the homes of former Mayor Sheng Thao and her codefendants that led to their indictments in January 2025.<\/p>\n
Oct 22, 2026<\/p>\n
Updated 9:35 am PT<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sheng Thao stands next to her attorney, Jeff Tsai, as he makes a statement outside of the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland, on Jan. 17, 2025.\u00a0(Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n
After testimony in the corruption trial involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao revealed the origins<\/a> of the FBI\u2019s city hall probe, a federal agent is expected to return to the witness stand Thursday, potentially shedding new light on how the agency\u2019s investigation unfolded.\u00a0<\/p>\n FBI Special Agent Katherine Barclay told the court Monday the agency collected phones, tablets, computers and other physical evidence when it executed search warrants in June 2024 at the home Thao shared with her longtime romantic partner Andre Jones, as well as those of recycling executive David Duong and his son Andy Duong. The raids also included the Oakland waterfront headquarters of the Duongs\u2019 company, California Waste Solutions. The four codefendants are facing bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges. All four have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n The FBI\u2019s investigation began in February 2023, Barclay said, following a tip from Oakland\u2019s Public Ethics Commission that businessman and political operative Mario Juarez, a long time ally of the Duongs, had printed campaign mailers against Thao\u2019s opponents and was \u201cexpecting things in return\u201d from the candidate those mailers were intended to support.\u00a0<\/p>\n Juarez has pleaded guilty to participating in the bribery scheme and is expected to serve as the government\u2019s star witness later in the trial.<\/p>\n The ethics commission\u2019s tip led the FBI to obtain a search warrant to access Juarez\u2019s Apple iCloud, which included a document enumerating the deal he allegedly struck with the Duongs and Thao. Prosecutors say Thao agreed that if elected, she would help extend California Waste Solutions\u2019 recycling contract with the city of Oakland, appoint favorable city hall staffers to director-level positions and commit the city to contracting with the housing start-up, Evolutionary Homes, that Andy Duong and Juarez cofounded. In exchange, prosecutors allege, Andy and David Duong agreed to fund a negative mailer campaign against Thao\u2019s 2022 mayoral opponents and pay $300,000 to Jones for a no-show job.<\/p>\n Thao\u2019s attorneys have questioned whether those mailers actually helped Thao\u2019s campaign, with defense attorney Jeff Tsai asking Thao\u2019s former campaign staffer, Noah Finneburgh, during his testimony Monday if the campaign was happy about the ads when they dropped.<\/p>\n Finneburgh said he was unhappy with them, and that \u201cpeople recognized it was an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Tsai suggested that the ad of Taylor, which was photoshopped to darken his skin, played into racist tropes against Black men and could have alienated voters Thao would have wanted to retain.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prosecutors used Barclay\u2019s testimony Monday to admit evidence from multiple of the defendants\u2019 devices seized in their June 2024 raids and files extracted from them. WhatsApp messages from Andy Duong\u2019s phone, which was confiscated from his home during the 2024 raid, appear to reveal how some of the promises prosecutors allege the codefendants made that played out once Thao took office.<\/p>\n In February 2023, a month after Thao\u2019s inauguration, Juarez and Andy Duong set up a meeting at California Waste Solutions between David Duong and Larry Gallegos, a project manager in the city\u2019s economic workforce development department at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prosecutors allege that Gallegos was one of the candidates who Thao agreed to elevate to a leadership position in Oakland City Hall at Andy Duong\u2019s and Juarez\u2019s request.\u00a0<\/p>\n In messages Andy Duong and Juarez exchanged, they appear to suggest that at the meeting, Gallegos should assure David Duong that he is \u201con board\u201d with supporting California Waste Solutions (CWS) if he\u2019s ultimately appointed director of Oakland\u2019s Department of Housing and Community Development.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the appointment is a direct result of the lobbying taking place,\u201d Juarez messaged to Andy Duong.<\/p>\n \u201cWe invested money,\u201d Juarez wrote to Andy Duong on March 26. \u201cTime. Talent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Later that day, Andy Duong replied to Juarez: \u201cAint nothing free or [sic] front cuz we did all that to help her ass win.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n After Barclay finishes her testimony, former Assistant City Administrator LaTonda Simmons and former City Administrator Jestin Johnson are expected to take the stand. Thao appointed Johnson in May 2023, and he served throughout her mayorship. He resigned from the role<\/a> in May amid an unrelated text messaging scandal.<\/p>\n Under Oakland\u2019s governance structure, the administrator oversees city departments and carries out most day-to-day government functions. But they are hired and fired by the mayor, who often gives input on major decisions, including hiring department heads and agreeing to significant contracts.<\/p>\n In his opening statement, Fine said Johnson will testify that Thao directed him to meet with David Duong multiple times and tour Evolutionary Homes\u2019 showroom \u2014 allegedly the only homeless housing vendor she asked him to visit.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792690452_4_260903-ShengThaoTrial-21.jpg\")
FBI agents raid a home on Maiden Lane where Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao allegedly lives in Oakland, Calif. Thursday, June 20, 2024.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792690453_62_TaylorFraud-website-screenshot_2_accessed-via-WayBackMachine_11-07-2022.jpg\")
A screenshot from the website Mario Juarez allegedly created to attack Oakland mayoral candidate Loren Taylor, accessed by the Wayback Machine on Nov. 7, 2022. \u00a0(Courtesy of Wayback Machine)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792690454_144_261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-25-BL-KQED-6aac0858.jpg\")
The Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2026.\u00a0(Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n