Following a closed-door City Council meeting in April 2019, then-Oakland councilmember Sheng Thao was concerned and wanted to strategize about what she had heard.<\/p>\n
She dialed Andy Duong, the well-connected scion helping to run the city\u2019s recycling contractor, and allegedly revealed the city\u2019s private legal strategy in a yearslong court battle with a business whose leaders \u201cwe really don\u2019t want to be seen with,\u201d according to testimony aired in the ex-mayor\u2019s corruption trial.<\/p>\n
The call was among the most dramatic pieces of evidence admitted in recent days as prosecutors have presented their corruption case against Thao, Duong and two other co-defendants. That process continued Monday, as defense attorneys spent hours cross-examining the FBI\u2019s lead investigator on the case, Katherine Barclay, and her findings about the quartet.<\/p>\n
The four defendants each face numerous conspiracy and fraud charges in an alleged scheme to sell access to City Hall in exchange for thousands of dollars in under-the-table payments. Prosecutors claim the conspiracy began in October 2022, and was revised in March 2023 during a meeting held by the four co-defendants and a fifth alleged conspirator at a back table of a waterfront Berkeley restaurant.<\/p>\n
All of the defendants \u2014 including Thao\u2019s romantic partner, Andre Jones, and Andy Duong\u2019s father, David Duong \u2014 have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n
Taken together, Thao\u2019s phone conversation and other audio recordings and texts aired before jurors in recent days offer a rarely seen peek into the relationships and alliances taking place behind the scenes at Oakland\u2019s City Hall. Unbeknownst to Thao, Duong was secretly recording each conversation, in what federal prosecutors now say was a routine and prolific practice by the young businessman to gather dirt on most anyone he met with political power.<\/p>\n
The April 2019 call revolved around a lawsuit filed two years earlier by Oakland against California Waste Solutions, the city\u2019s longtime recycling contractor, regarding alleged overcharges in curbside collection practices. The litigation \u2014 which spurred a countersuit by the recycling company \u2014 resulted in a $6 million settlement, along with a commitment by CWS to vastly reduce its fees for a premium collection service.<\/p>\n
In the call, Thao could be heard urging Andy Duong to gather materials that would support the company\u2019s position in the litigation, given that some other council members had voiced a desire for the company to refund residents \u2014 and not just change its business practices \u2014 as part of any possible settlement.<\/p>\n
The materials were suggested for a meeting the following day at a restaurant involving Thao, Duong and other unnamed individuals. Toward the end of the call, Thao voiced concern about where that meeting would be held, and if anyone would spot her with the Duong family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI prefer a private room because we don\u2019t really want to be seen with you guys,\u201d Thao said on the recording.<\/p>\n
Defense attorneys lost a bid ahead of trial to keep the recording from being played to the jury, amid arguments from prosecutors that it highlighted Thao\u2019s and Andy Duong\u2019s \u201cdeep and long-term relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
In cross-examination Monday, Thao\u2019s attorney elicited testimony about how lawsuit mentioned in the call was unrelated to the alleged conspiracy at the heart of the trial. The attorney also elicited testimony that none of the phone recordings reviewed by FBI agents included Thao ever specifically speaking about the alleged bribery scheme.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas there any part of that call in which Sheng Thao asked Andy Duong for money?\u201d asked the attorney Jeff Tsai.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d the special agent answered.<\/p>\n
The 2019 phone call is particularly notable given state laws governing what can, and cannot, be shared from the types of meeting Thao had just attended.<\/p>\n
Closed sessions of legislative bodies are highly regulated affairs and closed off to the public, typically so that city leaders can discuss legal strategy and employment disputes freely.<\/p>\n
Councilmembers are generally barred from sharing details aired in those meetings, according to state government laws. If any decisions are made in those sessions, then the results of those votes \u2014 such as whether to accept a settlement in a lawsuit, and how much taxpayers might pay for it \u2014 must be subsequently reported to the public.<\/p>\n
Generally speaking, closed sessions are \u201csupposed to be a private space where councilmembers can have frank discussions about what\u2019s before them,\u201d said Davina Hurt, director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. \u201cAnytime someone discloses what happens, it jeopardizes the case, it weakens the position of the city and it costs taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thao appears to have remained in contact with Andy Duong in the years that followed, and he kept recording his conversations.<\/p>\n
In a September 2023 call that was also recently played before jurors, Thao railed about Councilmembers Janani Ramachandran and Treva Reid, and told Andy Duong that he needed to be careful about his allegiances.<\/p>\n
She specifically warned Andy Duong not to invite Reid \u201cto do anything that even sounds cool\u201d, adding \u201cF\u2014 Treva, dude, I\u2019m so sick of Treva.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to have to f\u2014\u2014 pick and choose, because I\u2019m not f\u2014\u2014 with those bitches,\u201d Thao told Andy Duong. \u201cThey don\u2019t do any favors for me at all.\u201d<\/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":"Following a closed-door City Council meeting in April 2019, then-Oakland councilmember Sheng Thao was concerned and wanted to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,184,861,7,8,409,1312,723,138,332,1529,1533,181,50323,23,205,100,143,7115,145,406,144,182,13,385,94685],"class_list":["post-509082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda-county","tag-bay-area","tag-bay-area-crime","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-city-politics","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-east-bay","tag-east-bay-crime","tag-keywee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-legal-affairs","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-fbi-raids","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-mayor","tag-oakland-news","tag-pm-report","tag-politics","tag-regional","tag-social-alert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509082","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=509082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}