Ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, Duongs' defense teams complain feds taking too long

OAKLAND, Calif. - In a routine court hearing on Thursday, the defense teams for former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, the Duong father-and-son duo and Thao's romantic partner all complained that U.S. attorneys are taking too long to turn over evidence in a high-profile bribery case charged two months after Thao was recalled from office. 

"We're at the 10-month mark already," Neal Stephens, who represents David Duong, the owner of California Waste Solutions, said at the status conference hearing, referring to the date in June 2024 that the FBI confiscated materials from Thao's home as well as from the Duongs. "That poses a real problem for us."

Stephens added that because it seems to be taking so long, it feels like the prosecutors have an "open end" to their discovery process.

"We're eager to get the discovery portion over," Stephens said. 

Earlier, Asst. U.S. Attorney Abraham Fine told U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonazalez Rogers that while they had produced 400 gigabytes of discovery for the defense, including financial, business and phone records, along with search warrants and other material, it would take about one more month to hand over iPhone, iCloud and emails held by the main defendants in the case, and another four months to turn over that same information held by third parties. 

The main defendants are Thao, David Duong, his son, Andy Duong, and Thao's romantic partner, Andre Jones.

In January, federal prosecutors charged them with bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud. Prosecutors allege that Thao and Jones accepted these bribes to allow the Duongs to "exercise illegal influence over the levers of city government."

Andre Jones (back) enters federal court with his attorney. April 24, 2025 

All four defendants have pleaded not guilty. 

They are being represented by 10 attorneys; Stephens spoke for the group. 

Gonazalez Rogers ordered the government to "flip" the order of their production of evidence; start with the third-party material first and then go to the main defendants' accounts.

She also ordered what is called a "filter team" to oversee some of the evidence production, which she said is "best practice." 

When the FBI conducts search warrants and takes documents that may include information protected by attorney-client privilege, the government can form a "filter team"  – which in this case will be overseen by a magistrate – to prevent the prosecution from gaining access to privileged material. 

None of the defendants would speak to the media either on their way to court, or following the hour-long hearing. 

Thao entered the courtroom confidently and smiled before she sat down. 

She and Jones did not arrive at court together, sit with each other or speak with each other. 

The nature of their current relationship is not clear, although the two used to live together in Oakland. 

Before the hearing began, the atmosphere inside the courtroom felt almost like a small party of lawyers catching up with each other, joking and patting each other on the backs. There were also several reporters from various news outlets and FBI agents in the audience. 

Thao was recalled in November, and replaced by former Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who won the seat earlier this month. 

The next court hearing is scheduled for June 26.