OAKLAND — How much does it take to buy an Antioch city councilmember?
According to the FBI, the owner and vice president of the DeNova Homes development company estimated that it would take around $15,000. Prosectors allege they offered up the cash in discreetly hidden stacks of $100 bills, but say that David Sanson and his son, Trent Sanson, badly underestimated who they were dealing with.
Now, they’ve become the latest father-and-son duo to be charged with corruption in the Bay Area.
David Sanson, 60, and Trent Sanson, 33, were indicted on charges of conspiracy and paying bribes to the so-far unnamed councilmember, who reported the alleged nefarious activity to the FBI and apparently set up a sting. Prosecutors say they have video of Trent Sanson paying the councilmember $10,000 and David Sanson showing up with an additional $5,000 concealed in a DeNova Homes blood-orange coffee thermos.
The Sansons made their court appearance in Oakland Tuesday morning, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The indictment filed April 3 against them alleges that the councilmember-turned-FBI-informant recorded both bribes “at the direction of the FBI” and that the defendants expected “favorable treatment” in their already-approved 533-home development plans in Antioch, known as the Aviano project.
The goal was “to get the Antioch Engineering and Development Services Division to affirm completion and release the bonds associated with the project,” the news release says. The meetings allegedly occurred in 2024, starting in late May.
The five members on the city council at that time either could not be reached or did not immediately provide comment.
In a statement, an attorney representing David Sanson called him a “respected business leader and philanthropist with a 30-year track record of building homes and supporting communities across Northern California.”
“We are reviewing the government’s allegations closely and caution against any rush to judgment based on mere allegations that present a one-sided story. We are confident the facts will show that Dave is innocent, and that he was unfairly targeted without cause to be dragged out of near retirement from out-of-state, to be trapped into a web of deceit manufactured to ‘take down’ Dave and his family by a controversial local politico, whose own suspect personal motivations we look forward to exposing,” attorney Winston Y. Chan wrote.
“It’s incredibly disappointing that Dave’s reputation — built on a decades-long career of creating opportunities for residents of cities like Antioch, that have struggled for years to keep up with housing needs and other challenges — is being dragged through the mud,” the attorney wrote. “Dave and our team look forward to addressing this matter in court.”
There is no word yet whether the indictment is related to the recent raid on prominent Contra Costa political consultant Mary Jo Rossi, who did campaign consultant work for a committee sponsored by DeNova.
DeNova homes is a prominent developer around Contra Costa, with projects that occasionally drew controversy. One such project in Martinez resulted in competing ballot measures, and a lawsuit filed by a group against DeNova and the city, seeking to stop a development project. It was settled in 2019.
It has been quite a year for corruption prosecutions in the Bay Area, in particular the East Bay.
In January, father-and-son duo David and Andy Duong, owners of California Waste Solutions, were charged with working with a political consultant to bribe Oakland’s recently recalled mayor, Sheng Thao. The indictment charged both Andy and David, Thao, and Thao’s longtime significant other, Andre Jones.
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