OAKLAND – Oakland’s top administrator texted and visited with two key players in ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s alleged “pay to play” bribery scheme about a housing project potentially worth $66 million, according to a trove of documents released this week.
The revelation adds to an ever-emerging picture of alleged backroom dealing and political favoritism throughout Thao’s turbulent tenure, as revealed in more than 11,700 pages of city documents that were seized by federal agents through a subpoena last year and made public this week.
Taken together, the emails and texts add context to bombshell indictments filed by federal prosecutors in January against Thao and three others. Prosecutors say the quartet engaged in a sprawling conspiracy built on promises to David and Andy Duong of multi-million dollar government contracts, in exchange for $300,000 in kickback payments to Thao and her romantic partner, Andre Jones.
Previously reported emails and texts showed that Thao pushed to appoint a longtime city employee favored by the Duongs, who run Oakland’s contracted recycling company, to a key housing role, in a move designed to fulfill alleged promises Thao made. The messages also detailed the shadowy influence that Jones appeared to hold in her administration.
Yet newly uncovered communications cast a fresh spotlight on the actions of several top officials within City Hall and the mayor’s office in the months after the alleged bribery deal was finalized.
Several text threads show City Administrator Jestin D. Johnson spent months — October 2023 to January 2024 —communicating with David Duong, the owner of Oakland’s recycling contractor, California Waste Solutions. Many of them centered on the Duongs’ separate housing company, called Evolutionary Homes, that became a key cog in the alleged bribery scheme.
The texts show that Thao personally introduced Johnson to David Duong on Oct. 31 2023, suggesting the businessman “would like to have a meeting with you.”
Thao’s introductory group text arrived as David and Andy Duong were growing impatient that Thao hadn’t delivered, with David Duong telling a co-conspirator that she needed to fulfill her end of the deal “so she did not have any ‘liability’ or ‘trouble,’” according to the federal indictment. Thao and the elder Duong had a seven-minute phone call, just before the mayor messaged her city administrator and David Duong, court records show.
The subsequent phone call between David Duong and Johnson appears to have made an impression. Within a few weeks, Johnson texted David Duong saying that “I definitely want to get on your calendar.”
On Jan. 7, 2024, Johnson met David Duong and longtime political operative Mario Juarez for a tour of the housing company’s showroom on Oakland waterfront, which included replicas of the shipping containers transformed into modular houses for homeless women and children.
That same day, David Duong told Johnson in a text that the company would prepare site proposals for 222 units on nine sites “as discussed” during their visit. “We will do our due diligence and make sure all Councilmembers are apprised of the proposals and we will be available for any questions prior to Council action,” Duong wrote.
It remains unclear what came of the meeting in the months ahead. Federal prosecutors allege the co-conspirators’ plan was to take advantage of government funding if the city declared an emergency homelessness crisis, freeing up the use of federal funding for that issue.
Thao’s attorney, Jeff Tsai, declined to comment on Thursday.
Johnson and Juarez exchanged texts just days after the meeting seeking a conference call with Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Nate Miley. Over weeks of texts, Juarez got chummy at times, inviting Johnson to a relative’s high school graduation party and sending a video of himself lighting a candle inside a church so Johnson was protected and “never alone.”
“You did not seem like the type that taps out easy. Glad to see it in action,” Juarez texted Johnson on March 13, 2024. “Drink offer still on the table.”
“Sounds good. We’ll definitely (catch) up soon,” Johnson replied.
In response to questions about Johnson’s communications, city spokesperson Sean Maher told this news organization that the planned meeting with Juarez and Miley “did not end up occurring.”
Maher said Johnson did get in touch with Duong and Juarez at Thao’s behest, but initially thought the issue was over late payments involving the Duong family business’ recycling contract with the city. In Oakland, the mayor can fire a city administrator without cause.
“When it became clear they were trying to sell him something, City Administrator Johnson did not respond further,” Maher said in an email.
Miley, for his part, said in an interview he knew Juarez “for many years, so he definitely had access to me.”
But the supervisor maintains that nothing seemed out of the ordinary about Juarez’s pitch. Dealing with lobbyists, he said, is just a reality of being a politician.
No signs exist that Evolutionary Homes ever received a contract with Oakland or any other East Bay municipality. David Duong and Juarez — the co-founders of Evolutionary Homes — had a falling out in May 2023, over allegations that Juarez failed to deliver enough units for the company and allegedly cheated the Duongs out of their $1 million investment in it, court documents show.
Yet around earlier that same year, David Duong had approached city officials with a different request.
In February 2024, he made a personal plea to Assistant City Administrator Betsy Lake regarding an extension on a California Waste Solution project that was facing a key deadline. At the time, the company faced the prospect of another delay in building a new recycling plant at the former Oakland Army Base’s North Gateway area.
Louansee Moua, a former Thao campaign consultant who later worked behind the behind the scenes for the Duongs and CWS, messaged Thao’s chief of staff, Leigh Hanson, about the issue. At that point, Hanson said then-Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas was being briefed on the issue.
Moua followed that up a couple weeks later with a message to a Thao staffer asking to talk about the extension.
Juarez also tried bending Johnson’s ear once more.
In June 2024, Juarez approached him with a new request. This time, he wanted to strike a deal with GenFINITY Homes LLC, a company he started after his apparent falling out with the Duongs.
“I want to move a few units of modular housing. I need your help or if this is not forthcoming let me know and I will move my efforts elsewhere … you are the person who runs and directs our city’s (sic) at the end of the day. I hope all else is well with you and your loved ones” Juarez texted.
Johnson never wrote back. The FBI raids at the homes of Thao and Jones and the Duongs happened nearly three weeks later.