Oakland Mayor Thao’s attorney calls FBI raid ‘bad optics’

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Where is Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao? The city’s leader has been a no-show at pre-scheduled public events ever since FBI agents raided her house in Oakland early Thursday morning. Thao’s silence continued into Friday and her office directed questions from reporters to her attorney.

The mayor’s attorney, Tony Brass, sent KRON4 a statement on her behalf Friday afternoon. Brass described the FBI’s search warrant execution as “bad optics.”

Brass wrote, “Mayor Thao is ready, willing and able to cooperate fully with federal investigators.  She has nothing to hide.  It’s unfortunate that she has had to endure the bad optics of having this search warrant executed on her home. She would have cooperated with this investigation without the need for this search. She will continue to do the work Oakland expects from their mayor and provide the federal government with whatever information they are seeking. We have no information that she is or will be the target of this or any investigation.”

News of the FBI raid spread rapidly Thursday morning when a dozen FBI agents searched Thao’s house at at 80 Maiden Lane near Joaquin Miller Park. Agents carried boxes and envelopes out of the house.

A KRON4 news reporter remained outside the mayor’s house Thursday night, but Thao never returned home.

Who’s who in the Oakland mayor FBI raid

An FBI spokesperson said, “The FBI is conducting court authorized law enforcement activity on Maiden Lane. We are unable to provide additional information at this time.” So far, federal officials have not revealed who nor what it is investigating.

A law enforcement source told KRON4 that the raid was related to possible campaign finance violations.

If Mayor Thao is preoccupied by the FBI’s investigation this week, who is running Oakland?

Oakland NAACP calls for Mayor Sheng Thao to resign after FBI raid

City officials said City Administrator Jestin Johnson is responsible for Oakland’s day-to-day administrative and fiscal operations. “Jestin Johnson directs City agencies and departments to ensure the goals and policy directives of the Mayor and City Council are implemented,” a city spokesperson wrote.

Brass said that Thao has not appeared publicly since the raid because she is trying to stay focused on her job.

“She has press in front of her home and a very high-pressure job so it’s very distracting. She is the mayor of Oakland, and she has to conduct her job without the distraction of this press and this incident,” he said.

On Thursday, FBI agents and U.S. Postal Service inspectors simultaneously raided two more houses, 4320 View Crest Court and 12568 Skyline Blvd. in Oakland, where members of the Duong family live.

The Duongs own California Waste Solutions, a company that has a contract with the city and serves as Oakland’s trash and recycling collector. One of the company’s offices, located at 1211 Embarcadero Way, was also searched by the FBI.

In 2023 the California Fair Political Practices Commission sent the company’s CEO, David Duong, and Duong Family Investments a warning letter for failing to report campaign donations.

“Duong Family Investments … failed to timely file two major donor campaign statements (Form 461) for the reporting periods of January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018 and July 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018, despite qualifying as a major donor committee. An individual or entity that makes contributions totaling $10,000 or more in a calendar year qualifies as a major donor committee and incurs filing obligations,” the FPPC’s July 2023 letter states.

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