We now know that the key informant in the federal bribery and corruption case involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, her romantic partner, and a father-son business duo has pleaded guilty himself, and more details in the case have emerged.

Mario Juarez, who you may remember for having his home shot up just days before the FBI raid on then-Mayor Sheng Thao's home, and the raids on the homes and business of waste-management company operators David and Andy Duong, has appeared to be the star witness in the bribery and corruption case that goes back over seven years. Now, as Oaklanside reports via new court documents, Juarez has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bribery — likely in exchange for a lenient sentence.

This makes Juarez the second figure in this case, alongside former San Leandro Councilmember Bryan Azevedo, to take a plea and set themselves up to testify against Thao, the Duongs, and Thao's romantic partner Andre Jones, when this case goes to trial in October.

Per Bay Area News Group, the court filings paint a picture of a longstanding, tight relationship between the Duongs and Thao, in which money allegedly would regularly exchanged hands, and in which Thao would allegedly do political favors that would help the Duongs financially.

We knew that the Duongs had donated to Thao's campaigns, both for City Council and for Mayor — and Juarez allegedly became involved as a "straw donor," using the Duongs' money to pay for a campaign mailer for Thao's 2022 mayoral campaign.

And federal investigators say they have evidence that Thao was doing favors for the Duongs back in 2019. As a city councilmember, Thao allegedly fed information to the Duongs about city council deliberations regarding a lawsuit filed against their company, California Waste Solutions (CWS), over so-called "backyard service" fees for multi-unit buildings. CWS ultimately settled that suit for $6 million, repaying around 2,000 building owners for fees charged for pulling bins out to the curb.

According to court filings seen by Bay Area News Group, Thao allegedly said to the Duongs at the time that she didn't want to meet in a restaurant with them, saying, "I prefer a private room because we don’t really want to be seen with you guys.”

The filings also include new details about a 2023 Vietnam trip paid for by the Duongs, which now appears not just to have been a bribe but also was an opportunity for Andy Duong to surruptitiously record politicians in order to gather potential dirt to use as leverage against them.

Azevedo, the former San Leandro councilmember (CWS had contracts in both Oakland and San Leandro), was apparently recorded having a compromising conversation in a car with Andy Duong while on the trip, "discussing sexual interactions from the previous evening." A reporter somehow got wind of this — perhaps from the Duongs themselves — and federal investigators say that the Duongs then did Azevedo the favor of paying off the reporter to kill the story, perhaps to get him to do their bidding.

As Bay Area News Group reports, Juarez has apparently told investigators that Andy Duong had "dozens" of such videos, and that he "regularly" recorded such material involving politicians, "for political use against them."

The new filings also reportedly include an unsavory detail about Thao helping create a fake job for Jones in order to secure the lease on the house they shared. Investigators say that Thao helped Jones to lie about a $150,000-per-year role at her sister's cannabis consulting business — and that this was part of the same pattern in which she allegedly got the Duongs to give Jones a $300,000-per-year no-show job at their company, for which he had been paid $90,000 at the time of the raids.

None of this looks good for Thao, and now we know why her attorney, and the Duongs' attorney, were trying to get evidence from Juarez thrown out, which the judge denied in April.

Expect more intriguing details to arrive either before or during the October trial, unless everyone takes pleas before then.

Previously: San Leandro City Councilman Pleads Guilty, Becomes Potential Witness Against Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao

Top image: Sheng Thao speaks onstage at the TAAF Heritage Month Summit at The Glasshouse on May 02, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images for The Asian American Foundation)