SAN LEANDRO — The identical legal investigation that led Oakland’s former mayor to be charged with felonies has unfold to San Leandro, the place metropolis officers have been ordered by the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace to show over quite a few data in an obvious public corruption probe.
The federal investigation, which seems to be taking part in out in parallel between the 2 cities, turned public in San Leandro on Jan. 15 when federal brokers raided the house of Metropolis Councilmember Bryan Azevedo, a recognized affiliate of the household on the middle of the scandal.
Now metropolis officers should flip over data associated to members of that household, together with father-and-son defendants David and Andy Duong, together with the Vietnamese enterprise affiliation they led and an inexpensive housing undertaking they tried to launch within the Bay Space.
The household’s flagship enterprise is California Waste Options, a recycling large that has waste-management contracts with the cities of Oakland and San Jose.
In Oakland, the Duong duo are accused of working with an confederate to bribe ex-Mayor Sheng Thao and her romantic associate, Andre Jones, in order that Thao would appoint handpicked officers to key management positions and assist the co-conspirators achieve entry to profitable metropolis contracts.
Among the many data sought are discussions amongst San Leandro metropolis officers about presumably declaring a neighborhood state of emergency on homelessness — the important thing mechanism, prosecutors have alleged, in a plot by the Duongs to seize essential public {dollars} for inexpensive housing.
Azevedo, a sheet-metal foreman who gained election final 12 months to a second council time period, has repeatedly declined to touch upon the FBI raid at his residence, besides to declare his innocence.
San Leandro Metropolis Council candidate Bryan Azevedo speaks to Hayward Space Democratic Membership members throughout a Sept. 30, 2016 discussion board on the Eden Space Democratic Headquarters in downtown Hayward. (Darin Moriki/Bay Space Information Group)
The fourth-generation San Leandro resident was pleasant with Andy Duong, who personally courted Azevedo to affix a delegation led by Thao to Vietnam in summer season 2023 — a topic of curiosity within the federal subpoena.
The enterprise journey was paid for by the Vietnamese American Enterprise Affiliation, a commerce group led by the Duongs, who additionally donated to Azevedo’s political campaigns.
Later, Azevedo was amongst a number of council members who toured a showroom of the Duongs’ homebuilding firm, Evolutionary Properties.
When the San Leandro Metropolis Council voted final June towards declaring a state of emergency on homelessness, Azevedo forged one of many two dissenting votes.
The subpoena seeks data associated to Evolutionary Properties workers, together with David and Andy Duong, Cesley Frost, Julie and Chris Wedge and Mario Juarez.
The final consultant, Juarez, is repeatedly referenced however not named within the Oakland indictment as a 3rd co-conspirator who labored intently with the Duongs to ascertain Evolutionary Properties and to allegedly bribe Thao to favor the corporate for metropolis contracts.
A well known political operative, Juarez had been charged by Alameda County prosecutors with felony test fraud for mailers he organized to assault Thao’s opponents within the 2022 election. However a decide dismissed Juarez’s case final week, citing partly an absence of proof.
Makes an attempt to achieve Azevedo and different San Leandro officers for remark weren’t instantly profitable Friday.
It is a creating story. Test again for updates.
Initially Printed: March 7, 2025 at 4:41 PM PST
