In recent months, an Oakland political activist has been attacked twice, including once at his address, which was raided by the FBI last week

OAKLAND – A longtime Oakland political official was attacked in two separate incidents in May and June, one at an address raided last week by the FBI as part of a broader investigation that also ensnared Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.

Mario Juarez was met with gunfire at his home in the 1800 block of Fruitvale Avenue on June 9, authorities said. He was unharmed in the shooting, which remains under investigation. No arrests have been announced.

The attack came about a month after he was attacked at 1211 Embarcadero, the address where FBI and IRS agents raided the offices of California Waste Solutions on June 20, his attorney, Ernie Castillo, confirmed Friday. He described Juarez’s injuries in the incident as “severe” but had no further information on his current condition.

“These were definitely assassination attempts against Mario,” Castillo said in an interview. He did not want to speculate about the motive for the attacks, which were first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Juarez is a longtime political activist and two-time candidate for Oakland City Council. His recent campaign activities have drawn the attention of Alameda County prosecutors and the state’s political watchdog.

In January, Alameda County prosecutors charged Juarez with one count of aggravated voter fraud stemming from election mail-ins that Juarez allegedly orchestrated against Thao’s main political rival – mayoral candidate Loren Taylor – during the final 10 days of the 2022 mayoral race. His attack ads also targeted mayoral candidate Ignacio De La Fuente and former Mayor Libby Schaaf.

Prosecutors say Juarez ordered the flyers from an Oakland direct mail company by writing checks for nearly $53,600, but they bounced because he had less than $215 in his bank account at the time, court records show. He has since pleaded not guilty.

The Fair Political Practices Commission is currently investigating the emails after Juarez ignored warnings that he had not filed disclosure forms detailing the origin of his money, as required by state law.

The impact of those bad checks was immediate and devastating, said Samari Johnson, owner of Butterfly Direct Marketing. The Postal Service cut off its relationship with Johnson’s company, a blow that nearly forced the family business to close, he said.

The whole thing was a “cruel injustice,” Johnson said, especially given that Juarez was constantly pressing the company for updates and to ensure that the estimated 120,000 flyers were distributed before the election. Over and over, Johnson said, Juarez stressed “how important it was to distribute these flyers because they would impact the mayoral election” and because “it was important that Sheng Thao win and that changes be made to improve Oakland.”

“It was very, very stressful,” Johnson told this newspaper. “We’ve never had problems like this, even though we’ve been in business for 41 years.”

Juarez could not be reached for comment, but his lawyer Castillo called his client innocent and called the charges “politically motivated and regrettable.”

“If we have to pursue the case, we will do everything we can to prove his innocence. That includes exposing the evil political conditions in Oakland that underlie the charges against him,” Castillo said.

At various times over the past few decades, Juarez founded or ran companies focused on debt collection, entertainment, clean energy and real estate—many of which no longer exist.

At the same time, county records show that regulators filed at least $96,000 in state and federal tax liens against him since 2015. At least three of the state liens were still outstanding as of this week, while the status of a $79,000 federal lien remains unclear. He also had to surrender his real estate license in 2015 amid allegations of unlawful business practices.