Cold Open
A federal courtroom in Oakland. A jury of 18. A former mayor at the defense table.
On Wednesday, October 14, 2026, opening statements began in the trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. Prosecutors called the case “politics as profit.” Thao’s lawyer called the government’s story “pure fiction.” Both sides agree on one thing: the case rests heavily on one man.
Thao and her co-defendants have pleaded not guilty. They are accused, not convicted. Everything below is what prosecutors allege and what the defense says in response.
The Record
Thao, 41, took office as mayor in January 2023. Voters recalled her in November 2024, and she was indicted shortly after. She is on trial with three co-defendants: her longtime partner Andre Jones, 55; businessman David Duong, 68; and his son Andy Duong, 37. All four have pleaded not guilty.
Reporting from the courtroom says the case includes eight counts, including conspiracy, bribery, fraud and making a false statement to a government official. Thao faces a maximum of 95 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Chief U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is presiding. Witness testimony was set to begin Thursday, October 15.
Here is what prosecutors say happened. Before the 2022 mayoral election, the Duongs agreed to fund a negative ad campaign against Thao’s opponents and to pay Jones in exchange for favors. In return, prosecutors say, Thao would help two Duong-linked businesses: California Waste Solutions, which wanted an extension of its city contract, and Evolutionary Homes, a startup making shipping-container housing for people leaving homelessness. Prosecutors say the Evolutionary Homes deal was for up to 300 units at $300,000 per unit.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Abraham Fine told jurors Thao “put her power up for sale.” He said texts, recordings, emails, Apple Notes, bank records and checks will back that up, including five-figure checks to Jones from Evolutionary Homes with the memo line “advance.”
The Receipts
The prosecution’s central witness is Mario Juarez, who ran Evolutionary Homes alongside the Duongs. Juarez has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and is cooperating in hopes of a more lenient sentence. According to trial reporting, he went to the FBI in 2024 after a falling-out with the Duongs. FBI agents then raided the homes of Thao, Jones and the Duongs, along with California Waste Solutions’ headquarters, in June 2024.
The defense is attacking him head-on. Lawyers called Juarez a “consummate hustler” and a political fixer who invented the scheme. Thao’s attorney, Jeffrey Tsai, told jurors there was no bribe agreement and that Thao turned down Juarez’s requests for city contracts and appointments. Jones’s attorney says his client was a legitimate government-relations consultant paid on commission and that the checks were advances on future sales. David Duong’s attorney says his client knew nothing of any bribery scheme. Andy Duong’s attorney told jurors the case “lives or dies” on Juarez.
Prosecutors say they will corroborate Juarez with documents and recordings. The jury will decide whether they do.
We covered the pretrial fight over the so-called “kill the story” evidence last month: Ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Heads to Trial as Judge Allows ‘Kill the Story’ Evidence. Now the evidence goes in front of a jury.
The Pattern
Strip away the names and this is a pattern we keep documenting. A private company wants a city contract. A political campaign wants help. Someone close to the official is allegedly put on the payroll. The paperwork calls it consulting, advances, commissions. The prosecution calls it a bribe.
The difference between those two words is the entire trial. That is why the jury, not the headline, decides it.
The Verdict
The Legitimacy Gap here is simple. An oath of office says the public’s business is not for sale. The government says it was listed with a price. The defense says the only salesman in the story is the witness.
Nobody has been convicted of anything in this courtroom yet. If the jury believes the government, an office that belongs to the city was allegedly treated like a private asset. If it does not, the case will be a warning about how much weight prosecutors put on a cooperating witness with his own sentence on the line. Either way, the public pays for the trust that gets spent. We will report the outcome when the jury does.
Your Verdict
When a cooperating witness with a plea deal is the heart of a bribery case, how much should a jury trust him without hard proof? Tell us what you think.
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Featured image: official portrait of Sheng Thao, Office of the Mayor of Oakland, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Sources: Courthouse News Service and KQED trial coverage, October 14, 2026. This article reports allegations; all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.