A big fish in the Sheng Thao scandal may be ready to turn evidence against Thao and the people accused of bribing her, as San Leandro City Councilmember Bryan Azevedo might sing like a bird to avoid his own bribery charges.

If you’ve been following the whole Sheng Thao corruption scandal, you may be aware that the FBI investigation has spread from Oakland City Hall to San Leandro City Hall too. That’s because San Leandro City Councilmember Bryan Azevedo was charged by the FBI last month with taking bribes, and lying to the FBI about a $2,000 envelope of cash. None of these charges technically overlap with the charges against Thao, but the charges are for the same kind of bribes that Thao allegedly took, and it’s alleged that Azevedo took his bribes from the same two high-rolling Oakland-based businessmen.

KGO’s Dan Noyes was at the federal courthouse in Oakland this morning, and tried to get comment after Azevedo pleaded not guilty to all charges. (Azevedo was released on $25,000 bond.)  Unsurprisingly, Azevedo would not comment publicly.

But hours later, the Chronicle busted an even bigger scoop. That paper reports on some signs that federal prosecutors may have flipped Azevedo, and he could theoretically testify against the other parties charged with crimes here.

The Chronicle only has a few shreds of evidence, but boy do they seem convincing that Azevedo might soon cut a deal with the feds. The Chronicle reports that “federal prosecutors disclosed the prospect of a deal with Azevedo in a recent court filing,” and that filing said that Azevedo and Thao’s case have “overlapping events and entities.”  

The Chron adds that assistant US attorney Abraham Fine said in court today that prosecutors were “very close to reaching a resolution for this case.” That sounds like a curiously quick timeline for a defendant who just made his first court appearance this morning. So something may be up behind the scenes.

Azevedo is accused of taking a bag of $2,000 cash to steer San Leandro city contracts to a “tiny homes for the homeless” company called Evolutionary Homes. Prosecutors say he also lied to the FBI about this.

So is this bad news for Sheng Thao? It might not be. Both Thao and Azevedo are accused of taking bribes to direct city contracts, but none of their bribes overlap, and the alleged bribes took place in different municipalities with different alleged kickbacks involved.

But it definitely could be bad news for Oakland businessmen David and Andy Duong, who are accused of making the bribes in both cases. The Duongs also run Oakland’s curbside recycling pickup company Cal Waste Solutions, and their homes and offices were raided on the same day that Sheng Thao's house was raided by the FBI.

Interestingly, Bryan Azevedo is still on San Leandro City Council, as he has not been proven guilty. And maybe he never will be proven guilty, depending on whether he cuts some kind of deal with federal prosecutors.

Related: More Sheng Thao Fallout: San Leandro City Councilmember Charged With Bribery, Lying to FBI [SFist]

Image: @BryanAzevedo1 via Twitter