Federal Agents Raid Oakland Mayor’s Home and Other Properties in Corruption Probe

Federal agents conducted an early-morning raid on the home of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Thursday morning, one of several federal raids on other properties in the city. Agents served warrants at Thao’s house on Maiden Lane in the city’s Lincoln Highlands neighborhood at around 5:30 a.m. In an emailed statement to CBS News Bay Area, the FBI said, ‘The FBI is conducting court authorized law enforcement activity on Maiden Lane. We are unable to provide additional information at this time.’

Just after 10 a.m., several FBI agents emerged from the home carrying boxes as news crews staked out positions across the street. It was unclear what the agents were seeking or what was seized. Federal agents also served warrants at a nearby home on Viewcrest Court in the city’s Ridgemont neighborhood and at the Embarcadero offices shared by the Vietnamese American Business Association (VABA) and California Waste Solutions which manages the city’s curbside recycling program.

The FBI also conducted another search at the Skyline Boulevard home of VABA chairman David Duong, who is also CEO of California Waste Solutions. The owner of the Viewcrest Court house is listed as Andrew Duong, the son of David Duong. Both VABA and California Waste Solutions list multiple members of the Duong family on their leadership teams. FBI agents and IRS criminal investigation special agents carried out about 20 boxes of seized materials, many of which had ‘Andy Duong’ written on them.

California Waste Solutions has previously been investigated over campaign contributions to Oakland city officials, including Thao when she was a city councilmember. A company staffer who identified herself as Teresa Hoang said the firm was cooperating with authorities and that it was ‘confident the government will conclude that they are not involved in anything unlawful.’ Hoang is also listed as a VABA director.

Andy Duong has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, which includes photos with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Governor Gavin Newsom. Hoang also said the Duong family has ‘dealt with a lot of injustice over the past three decades’ and is confident no wrongdoing will be found. ‘This isn’t the first time we’ve had to deal with stuff like this. Every time we’ve come out clean,’ Hoang said. ‘The officials know more than anybody right now what the investigation is about.’

CBS News Bay Area reached out to Mayor Thao’s office for a response to the raids. Thao recently collaborated on affordable housing with the mayors of San Francisco, San Jose, and Berkeley. The raids come two days after the Alameda County Registrar of Voters approved a recall effort to move the process forward. Supporters of a recall blame the mayor for the city’s escalating crime rates, homeless crisis, and failure to combat retail crime. LeRonne Armstrong, former Oakland Police Chief, described the FBI raids as ‘a sad day for the City of Oakland’.