The scandal that allegedly sparked the FBI raid on Sheng Thao resulted in 93 alleged illegal donations — some may have been intended to remind donors

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao may have received donations as part of a money laundering scheme that may be behind the FBI raid on her home last week. But of the 93 suspected illegal donations, some may also have gone to major backers of the Sheng Thao Recall campaign.

Seven days after the FBI's incredible raid on Mayor Sheng Thao's home last week, we still don't know why the FBI seized evidence from her home. And it is quite possible, as Thao claims, that she is not the subject of the investigation at all.

But a consensus is emerging among local media investigating the bombshell: The raid is likely linked to illegal campaign money laundering operations involving donations to Thao and others from Cal Waste Solutions, the he Oakland-based recyclable waste collection company, from company CEO David Duong and his son Andy Duong. Both gentlemen had their homes searched by the FBI on the same day as Thao's last week, as was the headquarters of Cal Waste Solutions.

The allegations have been investigated for years by the California Fair Political Practices Commission and the Oakland Public Ethics Commission. They say the Duongs funneled illegal campaign donations through “junk donors,” concealing the true source of the contributions and violating conflict-of-interest rules. These donations often came from people who had only a few dollars in their bank accounts but who somehow received (allegedly) large sums of money from the Duongs immediately after writing the checks.

The Chronicle today cites a 2021 California Fair Political Practices Commission report in its latest report on the issue. “(Andy) Duong was the true source of at least 93 contributions to several local campaign committees when he created a campaign contribution laundering scheme to benefit (Cal Waste Solutions), reimbursing campaign contributions made to his request, using the names of intermediaries instead of his own,” the commission then wrote.

These allegedly questionable donations date back to Thao’s 2018 campaign for city council. The report claims Thao’s campaign raised nearly $10,000 in 13 contributions from so-called ghost donors, with Duong and Cal Waste Solutions (CWS) being the real source of the donations.

The Chronicle’s report follows Oaklandside’s reporting on the Duongs’ vast political contributions, which from 2016 to 2018 also contributed $67,000 to the Oakland City Council campaigns of Desley Brooks, Abel Guillen, Lynette Gibson McElhaney and Larry Reid. (Heck, the Doungs even gave money to Trump’s presidential campaign.) The California Fair Political Practices Commission’s 2021 report alleges that Andy Duong “had cash sitting in a drawer in his CWS office” to give to straw donors if they agreed to funnel it into their own alleged campaign donations.

Parenthetically, would Trump pardon the Duongs if he won the presidency? It's not out of the question: they gave him money!

Speaking about the November election, which will also include Sheng Thao's recall measure, Thao's defeated 2022 opponent, Loren Taylor, told KRON4 he would likely run for mayor again if Thao is removed from office. Taylor lost the mayor's job to Thao in 2022 by just 677 votes in ranked-choice voting. “You'll probably see my name on the next ballot for the mayoral election,” he told KRON4.

His first volley could be embedded in a Wednesday report from Dan Noyes KGO on a possibly illegally funded 2022 campaign mailer. Taylor claims his skin was darkened in the mail, which constitutes a subtle racist attack. (The image is above, judge for yourself, perhaps it's more just “speckled.”) Taylor's complaints seem like the normal sour grapes of a defeated candidate who sees an exceptional opportunity to win the race in a redesign.

But Noyes uncovered much more alarming aspects of the mailer. It was paid by real estate agent Mario Juarez, who now faces criminal charges for sending the bad check to the mailer's printer, and even Sheng Thao's former chief of staff claims that Juarez took money under Andy Duong's table specifically to pay for the mailer.

“It was the first time I saw Mario, and I wondered what he was doing here? “, former chief of staff Renia Webb told KGO. “And he told me he needed $25,000 to finish this mail and I left… because I knew they shouldn't even bother with that or talk about that kind of stuff . »

So this all sounds like catnip to the Sheng Thao recall campaign and its supporters, doesn't it? Maybe. Or maybe some of them might get bitten in the ass by this, too.

Consider US congressional candidate Jennifer Tran, who is running against Lateefah Simon for Barbara Lee's congressional seat. Tran is very active in Let's remember Sheng Thao's campaign and the Neighbors Together Oakland group It also turns out that her father, Phuc Tran, allegedly made one of the alleged straw donations in the amount of $5,000.

Dan Noyes confronted Tran about this at his press conference to condemn Sheng Thao on Thursday. After all, Tran has received significant campaign contributions from the Duongs. And boy, is it must-see TV when Noyes asks him some pointed questions about it. (Things get heated at 1:33 in the video below.)

Noyes asks: “How much did the Duongs give to your campaign this election cycle? And secondly, will you give it back?”

After much stuttering and deflection, Tran says “3300.”

As KGO reports, “our check of records shows a total of $13,200 from the Duongs.”

The FBI investigation is very bad news for Mayor Thao who wants to keep her job in November. She could also be very bad news for other East Bay politicians, and time will tell how much.

Related: We Get Clues About Why the FBI Raided Sheng Thao's Home, and Other Oakland Politicians Might Be Worried Too (SFist)

Image: OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 23: Edward Escobar of the Coalition for Community Engagement leads a chant during a protest outside City Hall in response to the absence of Mayor Sheng Thao since the FBI searched his home on June 23, 2024 in Oakland, California. (Images by Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images)