In a federal investigation scandal that bears some clear similarities to the one that, at least in part, led to the recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, San Leandro City Councilmember Bryan Azevedo is now officially under investigation by the feds.

We already basically knew that multi-term San Leandro City Councilmember Bryan Azevedo was being looked at by the feds. And it was likely not a coincidence that his home was raided by federal agents on the same January day that former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was officially indicted.

Almost five months later, though, Azevedo still hasn't been indicted himself. But the Chronicle reports today that the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California sent Azevedo a letter on May 12 telling him that he should contact them by May 30 if he was "interested in resolving this matter short of an indictment." It's not clear what that means, and the paper could not confirm whether anything had changed with Azevedo's case.

Perhaps, though, they'd be willing to cut a deal with Azevedo if he agrees to help them bring down a bigger fish, which is generally how these federal indictment chains work.

We know that Azevedo, like Thao, was part of a group of East Bay elected officials who went along on a sponsored — and likely cushy — trip to Vietnam in August 2023, paid for by the Vietnamese American Business Association, which is led by David Duong, the waste-management tycoon who was indicted on corruption charges alongside Thao.

And the business dealings of Duong's family business, Cal Waste Solutions, appears to be key to whatever the feds have against Thao, and likely Azevedo as well. (Thao's indictment includes the detail that she allegedly tried to solicit a bribe from the Duongs to the tune of $3 million, though she did not get nearly that much out of them.)

Azevedo has not commented on the matter, and we may not hear much more about this for a while. After all, it was a full seven months between the June 2024 raid on Thao's home and her formal charges.

Neither Thao, nor her boyfriend Andre Jones, nor David or his son Andy Duong, has yet to stand trial on those charges, and the feds are likely still gathering their evidence.

The cases, of course, bear some obvious similarities with the federal corruption case against former SF Public Works director Mohammed Nuru. Nuru, similarly, received bribes and in-kind gifts from developers and city contractors, including waste management executives, due to his role in securing lucrative contracts with the city. And those gifts also included at least one all-expense paid trip to Asia.

Nuru pleaded guilty in early 2022, and is currently serving the third of his seven-year sentence in federal lockup.