We’re learning that Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao's boyfriend also had his phone seized amidst last month’s stunning FBI raids, and while that doesn’t mean he’s a target of the investigation, he sure seems to have some nebulous but powerful role in her office.

It's been more than a month since the FBI raid on Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s home, and we still don’t know why they raided Thao’s home, nor do we know why they simultaneously raided the homes of prolific East Bay political donors David and Andy Duong, and their company Cal Waste solutions that handles Oakland’s recycling collection. But we do know that FBI agents seized Thao’s cellphone, laptop, and a desktop computer, and we also know that a federal subpoena directed some City of Oakland employees to not delete their communications involving Andre Jones, who happens to be Mayor Thao’s boyfriend.

Today’s Chronicle has the news that the FBI seized Jones’s phone too during their raids. The Chron also looks into Jones’s background as a behind-the-scenes political figure in Oakland City Hall, in cannabis legalization, and the murky role he’s played in Sheng Thao’s mayoral administration.

The fact that the FBI seized Jones’s phone does not necessarily mean he’s suspected of any wrongdoing. “It does suggest, however, that the communications between him and others are key to the criminal investigation,” Loyola Law School Los Angeles professor and former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson told the Chronicle. So at the very least, one of Jones’s phone contacts is likely suspected of wrongdoing.

And the Chron found a few minor skeletons in Jones’s closet. A former attorney of Jones’s sued him over an unpaid $30,000 legal bill in 2017 regarding a child custody case, but Jones apparently agreed to pay it off in installments, and did so. There is also the matter of a bounced $35 check to the City of Oakland (whose memo line, oddly, said it was for “Sheng Thao’s passport”) and the city claims Jones owes an additional $105 in damages because of this. There’s a court date on that matter scheduled for August.

It’s hard to imagine any of this low-level trouble would be of interest to the FBI.

Jones is a former chief of staff to councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, a role in which he met Thao when they were both Kaplan’s staffers. Prior to that, he did some mid-1990s political activism work on a California minimum wage increase, and medical marijuana legalization.  

He went on to work an administrative position at the California Bureau of Cannabis Control 2016, and some sort of volunteer Democratic party job in District 18.

What’s curious is that it’s totally unclear what Jones does for a living these days. He is not listed as being employed by the City of Oakland, but the Chron notes that he sure pops up on being involved in a lot of meetings on Mayor Thao’s calendar.

There is some insight from Thao’s former chief of staff Renia Webb. "I had found out that Andre, her boyfriend, was promising people jobs in our administration, promising people appointments on different commissions and boards." Webb told KPIX in June. "I definitely believe that, out of the mouth of the people that told me, they were promised positions, they were promised board positions. And [they would always say] Andre, you know? That's who they would say, 'Andre promised me this.'"

And Oaklandside directly questioned Thao about Jones in an interview two weeks ago. That publication asked her, “There’s been some speculation that Jones may have used his relationship with you to try to broker favorable treatment for city contractors and or friends. Is that true?”

To which Mayor Thao merely responded, “I can’t answer that.”

Related: Sheng Thao’s Romantic Partner Now Appears Ensnared In FBI Investigation, Too [SFist]

Image: @OaklandBallers via Twitter