OAKLAND — Federal prosecutors are continuing to gather evidence in the corruption case involving former Mayor Sheng Thao and three other defendants, whose attorneys are pushing for more oversight of the data yet to be collected.
On Thursday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers hinted that she may order future information obtained by federal agents to be filtered through an independent team, which could deny the U.S. Attorney’s Office certain information if it falls under attorney-client privilege.
So far, prosecutors have provided 400 gigabytes of evidence to the defense — agent reports, interviews, search warrants, phone records, financial information, emails and other cloud data that is relevant to the case against Thao, her romantic partner Andre Jones and father-and-son business partners David and Andy Duong.
The evidence represents everything collected by the feds through mid-January, when the four defendants were indicted on felony charges of bribery and conspiracy. All have pleaded not guilty and face 20 years in federal prison on the most serious charge.
The defendants’ attorneys said Thursday that none of the evidence presented in discovery thus far appears to have been improperly disclosed in violation of the rule of attorney-client privilege.
But the defense’s push for more oversight in the feds’ process offered a glimpse at a larger battle that may be fought over information in the high-profile corruption case involving the ex-mayor, who voters removed from office last November.
“We are at the 10-month mark already of the government having these devices,” Neal Stephens, the attorney for David Duong, said during the hearing, where he spoke on behalf of all four defendants. “We’re concerned, and eager to have this discovery phase over with.”
Thao and Jones are accused of accepting bribes from the Duongs in the form of money and pre-election political favors. In exchange, federal prosecutors allege the ex-mayor and her partner promised the business duo and another conspirator access to lucrative city contracts.
David and Andy Duong, members of a family influential in Bay Area politics, allegedly sought to grab public dollars for a homebuilding company, Evolutionary Homes. Their flagship business, California Waste Solutions, owns public recycling contracts for the cities of Oakland and San Jose.
The case has led to political fallout at Oakland City Hall ever since Thao’s home and addresses tied to the Duongs were raided by FBI agents last June.
In addition to seizing the defendants’ cell phones and laptops, the agents have since obtained similar devices from “third parties,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Abraham Fine said Thursday in court.
Upon reviewing guidance around “filters” on evidence collection, Gonzalez Rogers determined that the feds did not break legal guidelines around seizing devices, given that no data was taken directly from attorneys. But the judge said it would be “best practice” to establish a filter team for future evidence.
Such teams, usually comprised of lawyers, establish protocols approved by a magistrate judge to weed out information that could fall under attorney-client privilege. The judge gave no formal order in court for the creation of a filter protocol, but could write one up in the coming days.
The overall picture of the evidence in this case may amount to several terabytes of data, totaling hundreds of thousands of pages of information.
To speed up the discovery process, Gonzalez Rogers also said defense attorneys should receive the evidence collected by third parties straight away, “given that your clients should already know what’s on their own devices.”
Some of that third-party data very likely belonged to the defendants’ alleged co-conspirator, who is unnamed in the federal indictments but widely believed to be Mario Juarez, a political operative who has publicly attested to details of his involvement.
Juarez’s testimony in an eventual trial could prove pivotal to the corruption case. The next pre-trial hearing date is set for June.
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at shomik@bayareanewsgroup.com.