OAKLAND, Calif. — The alleged pay-to-play bribery scheme between former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao and the city’s recycling contractor hit a snag in 2023, when word began to leak of “suspected drug use and activity involving prostitutes” by another East Bay politician during their high-profile shared delegation trip to Vietnam, federal prosecutors claim in new court filings.

The dispute between Thao and the Duong family — which runs the city’s recycling contractor, California Waste Solutions — is among several major revelations included in recent court filings by federal prosecutors in their sprawling East Bay corruption case. Together, the motions ask a judge to allow a trove of evidence — much of which has been kept secret until now — that the defendants want kept from jurors when they head to trial on Oct. 19.

U.S. Chief District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has yet to rule on whether prosecutors will be allowed to air any of the allegations. Thao, her romantic partner, Andre Jones, and the father-son business duo of David and Andy Duong have all pleaded not guilty to a host of bribery and conspiracy charges in the case, for which they were all indicted in January 2025.

Among the new allegations made public by federal prosecutors:

—In 2019, Thao fed “sensitive” information on internal Oakland City Council deliberations to Andy Duong, amid a contentious lawsuit between the city and the Duongs’ recycling company claiming customers had been overcharged.

—In 2021, Thao falsely said her romantic partner, Andre Jones, had a $150,000 job — which didn’t exist — through a relative’s cannabis consulting company in order to secure a lease for their Oakland home.

—Andy Duong “regularly took surreptitious photos and videos of politicians in compromising positions for potential use against them,” dozens of which were found by federal prosecutors on his phone.

The revelations come as federal prosecutors fight attempts by Thao, Jones and the Duongs to exclude a mountain of evidence ahead of their October trial. Jones’s attorney have filed a motion asking for him to be tried separately.

Their arguments include concerns that not all of the allegations relate to the central accusations in the case. Also, Andy Duong’s attorney has said that prosecutors’ bids to include the evidence amount to “an effort to smear Andy Duong’s character while hoping this unrelated ‘evidence’ also has an adverse spillover impact on the other defendants charged alongside Andy Duong.” Much of the defendants’ recent filings were redacted, unlike those of prosecutors.

In an emailed statement, Andy Duong’s attorney, Winston Chan, said that he would let his filings speak for themselves. He added that Andy Duong was not charged in relation to the new allegations, and that he plans to contest them at trial if ruled admissible. Attorneys for Thao, Jones and David Duong did not immediately reply to requests for comment from this news outlet.

Federal prosecutors have long claimed that Thao accepted bribes from Andy Duong and his father, David, including political favors and $95,000 toward a $300,000 no-show job for Jones. In return, Thao promised to secure lucrative city contracts for a fledgling housing company co-founded by David Duong and Mario Juarez, a two-time City Council candidate and longtime East Bay political operative.

The agreement, prosecutors allege, also included the promise of a renewed contract with the Duongs’ recycling firm, California Waste Solutions. And the agreement called for Thao to appoint people favored by the Duongs to important positions in the city.

The creation of that housing company, Evolutionary Homes, proved to be a time for celebration for some of the defendants, the newly public court filings show. On Oct. 5, 2022, during one celebratory toast to the Duong family that was captured on video taken by Andy Duong, Juarez noted that he had pursued a business relationship with the family for some time.

“The day after you won the City of Oakland contract, you were there, paying everyone,” Juarez appears to say in the video, according to prosecutors, adding, “everyone was like f------ piranhas.”

“I was there,” Juarez continued. “I was in your office, $50,000, $100,000, whatever it was.”

Juarez, prosecutors note, is expected to testify that he was referencing bribery payments made by the Duongs to public officials back in 2014, when California Waste Solutions secured a new recycling contract with the city. The filings do not identify the public officials Juarez allegedly was referencing or provide additional details about the purported payments.

Inside information

The newly released documents shed new light on how closely the group worked together, while hinting at broader corruption in the area.

As early as 2019, then-council member Thao provided information on internal City Council deliberations and strategy on the city’s ongoing litigation against California Waste Solutions, including where individual council members stood on the dispute, federal prosecutors said, citing a recorded phone call on Andy Duong’s phone.

Oakland had sued CWS two years earlier claiming millions of dollars in overcharges by the company for “backyard service,” which involves recycling carts at multifamily buildings being brought out to the curb. The company later agreed to pay about $6 million in refunds for 2,000 multifamily building owners to settle the case, while also agreeing to lower their rates for that service in the future.

While feeding Andy Duong the information, Thao expressed concern about being seen with him in public. The two had plans to meet at a restaurant the next day, but Thao asked to shift those plans, telling him that “I prefer a private room because we don’t really want to be seen with you guys.”

An allegedly false employment letter

Federal prosecutors allege Thao also helped Jones, her partner of more than a decade, falsely document income in 2021 so the couple could list a fake job on a lease application for their home.

The letter falsely claimed Jones earned a $150,000 salary with the cannabis consulting company owned by Thao’s sister, the court filing says. Jones previously worked for the state’s Bureau of Cannabis Control from 2017 through 2021. Federal prosecutors said “it shows Thao and Jones’ modus operandi of creating a fake job for Jones to mutually benefit” the couple.

A new alleged payoff

Prosecutors say the relationship produced another political benefit for Thao in March 2023 after a meeting at an unnamed restaurant.

At that dinner, Thao and Jones asked the Duongs to purchase a $5,000 table at an upcoming fundraiser for the Niagara Movement Democratic Club, which planned to celebrate the club’s 50th anniversary. Bank records obtained by prosecutors show CWS later wrote a check to the Niagara Movement Foundation for that amount, and phone records detailed conversations between Jones and the Duongs about the payment. The payment, prosecutors say, highlights the nature of their relationship.

Attorneys for Andre Jones have asked the judge to keep that alleged payment from being aired in court. Federal prosecutors, however, say it helps paint an important picture of the couple “frequently” requesting perks from the Duongs, and that this event in particular aimed to “benefit her politically,” the filings said.

Tension over the Vietnam trip

The first hint of tension between the defendants came in October 2023, the new court filings claim.

It began when an unnamed reporter began inquiring about San Leandro City Councilman Bryan Azevedo and his alleged use of drugs and “activity with prostitutes” during a delegation trip to Vietnam two months earlier. His attorney declined to comment for this report.

In a call with David Duong, Thao became irate and said something along the lines of “if this stuff happens, I can’t work with you anymore,” or “I can’t f--- with you anymore,” according to the court filings, which quoted Thao’s staffers who overheard the conversation. The heated conversation did not end the collaboration between Thao and the Duongs, according to the prosecutors’ timeline.

Video found by authorities on Andy Duong’s phone depicted him, Azevedo and others in a car during the Vietnam trip “discussing sexual interactions from the previous evening,” prosecutors said. Their court filing does not include details of what those interactions may have entailed, or who else was in the car at the time.

Federal prosecutors allege the Duongs paid $10,000 to prevent a news story about the trip from being published.

David and Andy Duong, along with Juarez, met “an associate of the reporter” at a Livermore restaurant and handed him a $10,000 check drawn from a CWS bank account, the filing claims. Azevedo was in the car at the restaurant when the alleged payment was paid, prosecutors said, and he was later told by Andy Duong that the article wouldn’t be published as a result of the bribe.

Prosecutors did not name the reporter or their publication.

Azevedo pleaded guilty earlier this year to accepting a $2,000 bribe and then lying about it to federal agents in what prosecutors say was a similar pay-to-play scheme in San Leandro. He is expected to testify for prosecutors at Thao’s trial, and his sentencing has been delayed until after that case concludes.

More videos and a political appointment

Federal prosecutors allege Andy Duong often took videos of others in compromising positions, and they repeatedly cite phone calls that he surreptitiously recorded.

In one instance, Andy Duong recorded and took pictures of a man he and his father wanted appointed as deputy director of the city’s Housing and Community Development Department, as he was alongside “scantily-clad women” at a karaoke bar.

That man, Larry Gallegos, was named to the post shortly afterward. He is expected to testify about that evening at the karaoke bar and how Andy Duong’s picture-taking made him “uncomfortable,” the court files show. Gallegos could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

Juarez, who has since cooperated with authorities, told investigators that Andy Duong “regularly” took secret videos and pictures of politicians, all “for political use against them.” Prosecutors said Juarez’s claims are corroborated by “dozens of such videos, photos and recordings” found on his phone, though prosecutors did not say who else had been captured on tape.

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