Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s lawyer is considering a bid to move her bribery trial out of Oakland, and in other news, it seems Sheng Thao may have broken up with the boyfriend whose $95k no-show job is at the heart of this scandal.
Recalled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao not only has the indignity of having been recalled from office, but also of having to face a federal trial on eight counts of bribery and fraud after the FBI raided her home while she was still in office. Her romantic partner Andre Jones, also a former City of Oakland employee, is also being put on trial for allegedly accepting a $95,000 no-show job from a city contractor that paid him for doing nothing. Also on trial are Oakland recycling businessmen David and Andy Duong, for allegedly creating that job and paying that $95,000 in exchange for lucrative city contracts and the ability to influence Thao’s City Hall appointments.
All four will likely be tried together, and a new report today from Bay Area News Group suggests that the trial is expected to begin “by mid-2026.”
Except it could be much later than that. That same Bay Area News Group report also notes that Thao’s attorney may request a change of venue, to move the trial out of Oakland. That attorney, Luke Tsai, did not formally make the change-of-venue request when all four defendants appeared before a federal judge Thursday morning, though he said he was considering making that motion.
US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers gave Tsai until September 11 to make his motion to move the trial. Attorneys for the other defendants said they would consider joining that request, if Thao’s legal team does end up making the request.
Though on a more gossipy and intriguing level, KTVU reports that Thao and Jones may have broken up. The two were romantic partners and lived together for ten years, including when Thao’s home was raided. But Thursday’s KTVU report describes Jones as someone “whom she used to have a romantic relationship with,” and adds that “They came separately and sat in separate rows in the federal courtroom in Oakland” on Thursday.
This may be backed up by the Bay Area News Group’s reporting the technical legal matters. That outlet reports Jones’s attorney signaled that he might make a motion to have Jones’s case severed from the other three, and have a separate trial for Jones alone. So legally, at least, Sheng Thao and Andre Jones are no longer on the same page.
Regardless, none of the defendants are due in court again until November 20, when it is expected that Judge Gonzalez Rogers will set the trial date. But that timeline might no longer be operable if Thao’s lawyer and the other attorneys file their motion to move the trial out of Oakland.
Image: Sheng Thao via Facebook
