Oakland leaders and voters want answers after authorities executed search warrants from the FBI, IRS, and Postal Service at Mayor Sheng Thao’s home.
The raid came a day after the city clerk confirmed a recall effort had enough valid signatures to put the vote on the November ballot.
Oakland NAACP President Cynthia Adams demanded Thao resign:
The city has “a cloud hanging over it today,” according to Cynthia Adams, president of the Oakland branch of the NAACP.”While the public should refrain from a rush to judgment, the leadership of the NAACP and its members are calling on Mayor Sheng Thao to resign immediately and spare the city the cost of a recall,” Adams said in a statement Thursday night.”Oaklanders deserve a mayor who is not distracted, fully committed, and able to lead the city. Clearly, Mayor Thao cannot focus on the needs of the residents of Oakland while she addresses the major challenges posed by the FBI raid and investigation,” Adams said.
The agencies also searched the homes of California Waste Solutions, a recycling center with contracts with Oakland, executives David and Andy Duong:
Two homes associated with the Duongs, along with an office building in Oakland, also were searched, FBI officials confirmed.While the FBI didn’t reveal the nature of the investigation, this isn’t the first time that Thao’s name has been associated with the Duongs.According to an Oakland Public Ethics Commission official, Andy Duong and Cal Waste Solutions are the subjects of an ongoing investigation into alleged illegal campaign contributions.Those contributions were allegedly laundered through third parties and given to multiple candidates, including Thao, and an investigation was launched in 2019, said Simon Russell, chief of enforcement for the Ethics Commission.Russell said he can’t comment on whether the ethics commission referred its investigation to the FBI.
The government never notified the Oakland City Council.
“There are so many negative narratives about Oakland,” City Councilmember Carroll Fife told NBC Bay Area. “My fear is that this will exacerbate those stories, those claims. Regardless of what is true and what is not true, it is the spectacle of the thing that makes it interesting for people. It concerns me for our ability to get the basic work done that all of our residents deserve.”
David is Andy’s son.
In 2014, the Oakland City Council gave California Waste Solutions a contract over Waste Management “to run the city’s collection services.”
In 2017, Oakland sued the company for allegedly charging 550% more to landlords of multi-unit buildings than the agreed-upon amount in the contract.
California Waste Solutions countersued.
Oakland and the company settled in 2021. California Waste Solutions agreed “to refund landlords over $6 million and reduce their monthly premium service rate.”
But before the settlement, in 2019, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission began investigating California Waste Solutions over allegations of “funneling illegal campaign contributions to at least five Oakland City Council candidates, including Thao, as well as City Council candidates in El Cerrito and San Jose, from 2013 through 2018.”
The Fair Political Practices Commission, California’s campaign finance watchdog, launched an investigation into Andy Duong over laundering campaign contributions:
A month later, California’s campaign finance watchdog, the Fair Political Practices Commission, opened an investigation into Andy Duong related to laundered campaign contributions, state records show. That investigation is still not resolved, the Chronicle reported.Last July, David Duong was named in a warning letter issued by the FPPC. The watchdog found that a committee he is associated with, Duong Family Investments LLC, failed to disclose itself as a major donor in 2018 and warned that it could face fines of $5,000 per violation in the future.In records made public as part of a lawsuit, Public Ethics Commission investigators claimed that Andy and David Duong used “straw donors” to disguise the money they were giving to Oakland councilmembers, The Oaklandside reported.A straw donor is someone who gives money to a campaign and is secretly reimbursed by the person who really is putting up the money.
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