"The morning of Jan. 17, 2025, federal prosecutors filed into a windowless room at the San Francisco federal building and lined up solemnly behind the podium. They were about to announce a bombshell political corruption case. Hours earlier they had unsealed an indictment charging Oakland's newly recalled mayor Sheng Thao, her romantic partner Andre Jones, and two local recycling moguls, David and Andy Duong, with orchestrating an elaborate bribery scheme."
"Mario Juarez, a well-known Fruitvale businessman, is widely believed to be the person federal prosecutors referred to in the indictment as "Co-conspirator 1." Identified by the feds as a local businessman, an active member of the local political community, a cofounder of a housing company with the Duongs, and the figure behind negative mailers targeting Thao's opponents in the race for mayor, Juarez is the only person who ticks every box."
""So we may go to jail... but we are $100 million dollars richer," he wrote in one exchange."
Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging recalled Oakland mayor Sheng Thao, her partner Andre Jones, and recyclers David and Andy Duong with an elaborate bribery scheme. The government alleges that Co-conspirator 1 and the Duongs bribed Thao and Jones to secure millions in city contracts. Mario Juarez, a Fruitvale businessman, housing cofounder with the Duongs, and the financier behind negative mailers, fits the description of Co-conspirator 1. The indictment includes text messages suggesting fraud, including a message about going to jail while becoming $100 million richer. Juarez was photographed vacationing as the case was announced and does not appear poised to serve time.
Read at The Oaklandside
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