Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was recently indicted on corruption charges along with her longtime romantic partner and two local businessmen. Earlier this month, an eight-count indictment was brought against Thao, her partner Andre Jones, and David Trung Duong and Andy Hung Duong in relation to bribery offenses.
The indictment was filed on January 9, regarding the City of Oakland mayoral election in November 2022. After Thao won the race, she allegedly promised to take action to benefit David Duong, the president and CEO of a local recycling company, and his son Andy Duong after they provided the mayor with various benefits.
Conservative commentator Real Robert wrote on X, “🚨🚨Just In, Another Democrat, Former Oakland DEI Mayor Sheng Thao has been criminally indicted by a grand jury on corruption charges, In 2024, Madam DEI became the first Mayor in Oakland’s history to be recalled, following a surge in crime, murder and homelessness.”
A former staffer of Thao’s, Renia Webb, recently spoke out against Thao following the indictment. “When the FBI approached me and what I found out was just heartbreaking, and knowing that it would put Oakland further behind than we ever have been,” she said. “It’s just sickening that we were running a campaign telling people one thing, making promises to take care of our city and all the while you and Andre were in the background conspiring to be crooks.”
“That’s when she told me, ‘Oh, you’re going to be making close to $200,000. Let’s set up our families for life,’ and I was like, ‘No thank you,’” Webb continued. She eventually resigned at the end of 2022 after which she claimed to have been harassed and targeted. “I don’t have no reason to lie,” she emphasized. “Why would I walk away from close to $200,000 to take about a 400% pay cut if it wasn’t for a reason when I worked so hard to get her in the office.”
A statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California said, “According to the indictment filed Jan. 9, 2025, in the weeks leading up to the City of Oakland mayoral election in November 2022 and following her election as mayor, Thao promised to take official actions as the mayor of Oakland to benefit David Duong and Andy Duong, in exchange for the Duongs providing various benefits to Thao and Jones. David Duong was the president and CEO of a recycling company that provided residential recycling collection services to Oakland households, and was also the chairman and co-owner of a housing company formed to develop and manufacture prefabricated modular homes. Andy Duong, David Duong’s son, was an employee of the recycling company and also a founder and co-owner of the housing company.”
“The public deserves honesty and transparency from City Hall. When elected officials agree to a pay-to-play system to benefit themselves rather than work for the best interests of their constituents, that breaches the public trust,” First Assistant United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins stated . “This indictment reaffirms the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s commitment to root out, investigate, and prosecute corruption in our local governments.”
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Featured image credit: Office of Mayor Sheng Thao, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mayor-Thao-Headshot.jpg