Multiple Oakland city staffers are being forced to hand over records to the FBI this week in response to a federal grand jury subpoena.
Want to share a tip or information with our reporters? Email editors@oaklandside.org.
A grand jury is a group of regular citizens convened in secret by federal prosecutors to hear evidence and testimony of an ongoing investigation. The grand jury then decides whether or not there’s enough evidence to charge someone with a crime.
The existence of the subpoena was first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle following a memo sent last week by City Attorney Barbara Parker to city employees, telling them not to delete or destroy records that the FBI might be seeking.
According to a copy of the subpoena obtained by The Oaklandside, federal prosecutors and the FBI are seeking records of communications between city officials and staff and California Waste Solutions, Oakland’s recycling contractor. The government also wants records and communications involving David Duong, the man who founded CWS, and members of his family, including Andy, Kristina, Victor, and Michael.
There has been a lot of speculation about why the FBI might be interested in the Duongs. Andy Duong is currently being investigated by the Public Ethics Commission for allegedly funneling tens of thousands of dollars to candidates for Oakland City Council and people running for office in other cities using “straw donors,” people who receive reimbursements to make a political contribution. City law prohibited the Duongs from giving to political campaigns because they were actively trying to expand their business operations at the old Army Base. The Duong’s company was also locked in litigation with the city for years over the terms of their curbside recycling contract.
Andy Duong is also connected to Music Cafe, a bar that was busted in 2018 after staff sold ketamine to customers and set them up with sex workers, according to court records. The Music Cafe’s owner and manager were major contributors to the alleged straw donor scheme run by Andy Duong.
The subpoena also seeks records and communications concerning Evolutionary Homes, a company the Duongs helped create in 2022 to manufacture and sell shipping container homes. The company has advertised these modular structures as a solution for the homelessness crisis.
One of the principals involved in Evolutionary Homes was Mario Juarez, an Oakland businessman, former political candidate, and activist. Juarez is currently facing felony charges for allegedly passing bad checks to a mailing company to produce attack ads against Councilmember Loren Taylor during the 2022 mayoral election. The subpoena also requests documents related to the mayoral election, including communications and records concerning political mailers, advertisements, independent expenditures, and campaign contributions.
Juarez, who was promoting Evolutionary Homes as recently as December 2023, appears to have had some kind of falling out with the Duongs. Juarez claims he was attacked twice, shortly before the FBI raided the homes of Andy and David Duong and Mayor Sheng Thao, as well as the offices of California Waste Solutions on June 20. Someone set up a website that criticizes David Duong for allegedly failing to pay the salaries of workers in Mexico who are employed by the company. The website offers no proof for these allegations.
The grand jury subpoena is also after information concerning Thao’s long-term partner, Andre Jones. Jones works as an assistant chief for the State Bureau of Cannabis Control. From 2008 to 2016 he was chief of staff for Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan where he worked alongside Thao. The subpoena also seeks Jones’ appointment calendar from June 1, 2022 to the present, along with Thao’s.
Federal prosecutors and the FBI are also seeking records about the former Oakland Army Base. The base was decommissioned in 1999 and handed back to the city, which has spent the past two decades trying to develop the land for new industrial and other uses.
In October 2022, the Oakland City Council and city staff argued over a proposal from Councilmember Carroll Fife to let unhoused residents relocate to temporary shelters to be constructed on several acres at the base. Staff argued that Fife’s plan wouldn’t work because the base is too polluted to be used for housing without expensive cleanup. Thao, who was a councilmember at the time, supported Fife’s plan, which ultimately fizzled out.
Two recycling companies, including California Waste Solutions, have had plans to move parts of their operations to the base also.
In a request that might be related to the army base, the subpoena also asks for documents and communications related to any declarations of a local emergency on homelessness that were considered or approved by council between January and December 2023. For years, Oakland has had a significant population of unhoused residents and too few shelter beds or transitional homes to accommodate all of them.
Prosecutors and the FBI are also demanding records related to appointments of city officials and commissioners. The subpoena specifically mentions posts related to the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners, the Department of Public Works, Planning and Building Department, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the City Administrator’s Office. The mayor has the authority to appoint individuals to city boards and commissions, some of which can be quite influential. These appointments are made in a public process and the City Council has to vote to approve each appointment by the mayor.
The city of Oakland, most likely through the City Attorney’s office, must present the requested records to the federal grand jury on Thursday morning at Oakland’s federal courthouse.