Subpoena sheds light on FBI investigation into Oakland Mayor Duongs

OAKLAND, California. – The U.S. Attorney for Northern California is serving grand jury criminal subpoenas to Oakland officials as part of their growing FBI investigation into politically well-connected recycling company owners and Mayor Sheng Thao.

It’s still unclear what exactly federal agents are looking for, but after a subpoena was issued to Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker on June 25, their view became a little clearer.

Parker had no comment.

The letter addressed to them was sent five days after the FBI raided the offices of recycling company Cal Waste Solutions and the homes of two of its owners, David and Andy Duong (father and son), as well as Thao’s home.

The subpoena requires Parker to testify before a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Oakland on Thursday and to produce a trove of documents.

A source told KTVU on Tuesday that Oakland City Council members also received a letter asking them to preserve documents, but were not called as witnesses before the grand jury.

It is not clear who else besides Parker was called to testify.

The subpoena from Assistant U.S. Attorney Abraham Fine also asked Parker to preserve and produce documents and communications related to Andre Jones, deputy chief of the state Bureau of Cannabis Control. The deputy chief has been Thao’s boyfriend for 10 years. The two met when he was chief of staff to City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, where Thao also worked.

Jones was seen at Thao’s home on Maiden Lane during the FBI raid, bringing her what appeared to be takeout food while also going inside to walk the dog.

He has not yet made any public statements and it is unclear whether he has hired a lawyer and what connection he has, if any, to the FBI investigation.

In their letter to Parker, federal agents said they also wanted to see documents related to the 2022 Oakland mayoral election, as well as any calendar entries involving Thao and Jones from June 1, 2022, to the present.

A grand jury is a group of citizens convened by federal prosecutors to hear evidence and witness testimony. The jury then decides whether there is enough evidence to charge someone with a crime. The proceedings are confidential.

In Parker’s subpoena, she was told she must be able to produce, and not destroy, documents from January 1, 2022, to the present relating to California Waste Solutions and its employees, including David, Andy, Kristina Victor and Michael Duong, as well as Evolutionary Homes, a company the Duongs co-founded in 2022 that manufactures and sells shipping containers.

The subpoena names Mario Juarez, Julie Wedge, Chris Wedge and Cesley Frost as company members.

The San Francisco Chronicle was the first to report on the subpoena, with the Oaklandside and East Bay Times newspapers also reporting on the document.

KTVU then obtained the subpoena through a California public records request.

Juarez is a businessman and former political candidate who pleaded not guilty to charges against him for alleged check fraud for producing attack ads against Thao’s mayoral rival, Loren Taylor.

According to the Chronicle, a rift developed between Juarez and the Duongs, and there are differing views on who harmed whom.

The Duongs said Juarez threatened Andy Duong and his family on May 3, the Chronicle reported, but Juarez said he was allegedly beaten and possibly shot at by members of the Duong family.

Juarez did not return a call from KTVU.

According to Parker’s subpoena, the U.S. Attorney’s Office also wants to see documents and communications related to a possible homelessness emergency declaration in 2023, contracts between Oakland and any waste management companies, and the use or development of the Oakland Army Base.

City Councilwoman Carroll Fife wanted to relocate homeless people to temporary shelters on the military base, but that plan fell through when city officials said cleaning up the polluted area would be too expensive.

According to city records, Cal Waste Solutions also opposed allowing homeless people to move into the base because, although they had a contract to build there, they had not yet moved in.

The subpoena also requests to inspect records related to the appointment of all positions in the City of Oakland, including the Port of Oakland Board of Trustees, the Department of Public Works, the Department of Planning and Building, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the City Manager’s Office.

In July 2019, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission opened an investigation into allegations that California Waste Solutions funneled illegal campaign contributions to at least five Oakland City Council candidates, including Thao, as well as to El Cerrito and San Jose City Council candidates from 2013 to 2018.

A month later, California’s campaign finance regulator, the Fair Political Practices Commission, launched an investigation into Andy Duong in connection with laundered campaign contributions, state records show.

Both investigations are still ongoing.

After the FBI raid, the Duongs stated that they had done nothing illegal or inappropriate.

In an interview with KTVU last week, Thao said Jones was “absolutely” not involved in any kind of collaboration with her administration.

She declined to say more about him or the FBI investigation.

And in a press conference four days after the raid, Thao protested her innocence and told her critics that she would not resign from office.

“I want to make this very clear,” Thao said at a press conference at City Hall. “I have done nothing wrong.”