Federal officials on Friday announced the indictments on bribery charges of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, her longtime boyfriend and two leaders of the city’s recycling contractor, detailing for the first time the alleged findings of a sprawling corruption probe that shadowed Thao’s recall in November.
The indictments came seven months after the FBI, in June, raided Thao’s home and three properties linked to the members of the politically powerful Duong family, who hold Oakland’s curbside recycling contract through their California Waste Solutions firm and who, like Thao, have repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
In exchange for pledging to extend their recycling contract with the city and other benefits, federal prosecutors said, Thao and her boyfriend, Andre Jones, received various kickbacks from the Duongs, including the financing of a negative mailer campaign in the run-up to the 2022 election and $95,000 in the form of direct payments disguised as wages for a “no-show” job for Jones…