Subpoena seeks Oakland City Hall documents following FBI raid on Mayor Sheng Thao's home
A federal grand jury is demanding the City of Oakland turn over a trove of documents following last month's FBI raid on Mayor Sheng Thao's home.
Federal agents also raided three other locations connected to the politically connected Duong family, including the city's curbside recycler California Waste Solutions, owned and run by the Duong family.
The FBI hasn't answered questions about why Thao's home was searched in the early morning hours of June 20 or what agents were looking for. But on June 25, federal investigators subpoenaed documents related to the case from Oakland City Attorney Barbara Walker, including any communications around Thao's mayoral campaign, meetings she's taken, who she met with, and what was discussed, as well as any communications having to do with the Duong's businesses.
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Investigators want documents going back to January 2022, just a few months after Thao announced she was running for mayor.
"The feds are looking at both the campaign of the mayor as well as conduct that occurred afterwards," said legal analyst Steven Clark.
Clark, a former Santa Clara County District Attorney and now criminal defense attorney, says that based on the documents the FBI is asking for, he believes this is a "pay to play" investigation, and the FBI is looking for evidence of possible bribery or public corruption.
"Was there some connection between campaign financial activities and the subsequent conduct of a city official," Clark asked.
The FBI is also requesting information about the mayor's partner, Andre Jones, including any documents or communications with him and information about any meetings he might have attended.
However, in an interview with CBS News Bay Area last week, Thao denied Jones had any involvement in her administration.
"Absolutely not. I've been on the city council where he's never actually been on any payroll," said Thao. "That's really easy to confirm. He's hardly even been in my office. There's no truth to that."
In that same interview, Thao once again denied any involvement in a federal investigation.
CBS News Bay Area reached out to both the City Attorney's Office and the Mayor's Office for comment. The Mayor's Office referred questions to the city attorney, and the City Attorney's Office said it did not have any comment.