Oakland served with subpoena following FBI raids; records of mayor, her partner, Duongs asked
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A U.S. Attorney has issued a subpoena following last month's FBI raids at several locations in Oakland including Mayor Sheng Thao's home. The subpoena is addressed to Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker.
The Oaklandside posted the subpoena on their website.
The U.S. Attorney wants the city to hand over various documents.
"That's serious. That's the first time I've been politically involved here that I've heard of a federal investigation (like that)," said City Councilmember Noel Gallo.
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UC Law associate professor Jonathan Abel says this is the first look at what federal authorities may be after and that a federal grand jury will be handling this high profile case.
A federal grand jury will determine if there is enough evidence to file charges or indictments in this case.
"This is a road map to the things they are interested in. There's a lot of speculation in the news media about how it all fits together," said Abel.
According to the Chronicle last week, in connection with a federal grand jury subpoena, the Oakland city attorney reportedly told some city staff to preserve all documents related to Mayor Thao's partner Andre Jones as well as California Waste Solutions and the Duong family.
"They don't want someone to be putting those documents into a shredding machine today," said Abel.
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Among the documents," the subpoena demands:
"We don't know how the pieces fit together but you can see the types of things they are interested in," said Abel.
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The subpoena, also requests documents and communications related to:
"What I think they are trying to figure out is who was involved and who was asking for what," said Abel.
The subpoena also requested documents related to Evolutionary Homes, LLC founded by two-time Oakland City Council candidate Mario Juraez.
We reached out to Mayor Thao's legal counsel - Attorney Jeff Tsai. He did not want to comment on the matter on Tuesday.
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This afternoon, a spokesperson for California Waste Solutions and the Duongs issued this statement:
"The company is currently working closely with federal investigators to support and expedite their investigation, which is unrelated to CWS operations."We eagerly anticipate the investigation's conclusion, which we expect will confirm the company's adherence to all laws and regulations."
"It's disturbing, we are really losing a lot of confidence here in Oakland," said Gallo.
On Tuesday afternoon, Councilman Noel Gallo says the city is cooperating with the investigation but it's a heavy weight on the shoulders of local leaders.
"We are being held responsible whether we're involved in that action or not," said Gallo. "I've never seen it at this level that we are all being at some way, or another being implicated and accused of being a part of it whether at the council level or another governmental level here in Oakland. And that is kind of setting us back as a city in terms of trying to win the trust of the public."
City leaders say they're just taking this complicated investigation one step at a time.
