Oakland, California’s Democrat mayor, Sheng Thao, was the target of an FBI raid on June 18th. According to the agency, the FBI is carrying out court-authorized law enforcement operations on Maiden Lane.
According to Lisa Hill, a law enforcement expert, this scenario seems rather severe. The raid was interconnected with a larger public corruption investigation that included the IRS, the US Postal Service, and the FBI.
On Thursday, the residences of Andy, David, and Linda Duong, as well as the California Waste Solutions offices, were raided.
Nina Medina, head of the National Latino Peace Officers Association, heard the raid in the morning while she was in the area with friends. According to Medina, the federal government doesn’t enter homes without reasonable suspicion or a warrant.
There have already been many smoking guns, and Thao is not fit for public office, according to Brenta Harbin-Forte, who is leading the effort to remove Thao from office. However, the FBI raid does not establish her guilt in the continuing inquiry.
Over twenty boxes were removed, some of which had the name Andy Duong. They also took garbage bags full of items.
Teresa Hoang, a spokesperson for California Waste Solutions, told the local media that the company was working with investigators and that it was certain the government would find that it was not engaged in any illegal activity.
In 2020, the company’s founders, David and Victor Duong, were under review by the Public Ethics Commission for allegedly using “straw donors” to fund council members. Some of the money reportedly went to Thao. Thao accompanied the Duong brothers on a trade trip to Vietnam last summer.
Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong was fired, and the position remained unfilled for almost a year. Thao has been roundly criticized. According to Armstrong, the raids were a tragic event for Oakland, which is deeply troubled.
Political strategist Sam Singer indicated that the mayor’s office is in a state of crisis. Singer said that he could not see a way out of this for Thao and predicted that she would likely have to resign.
The FBI raid occurred only two days after over forty thousand people signed a petition for a recall referendum to remove Thao from office in November. To be included on the ballot, 24,644 valid signatures are required.
