5 hours Ago By Amy Larson
OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) -- On the day Sheng Thao was sworn-in as Oakland's new mayor in January of 2023, she was flanked on stage by her family, supporters, city officials, and boyfriend, Andre Jones. Standing on her right, Jones was all smiles as he listened to her victory speech, photographs from the ceremony show.
Jones never held a job title within Oakland's city government during his girlfriend's tenure. But behind-the-scenes, Jones' influence over Thao, and his alleged "no-show" job with the Duong family, were significant enough for a federal grand jury to indict him on fraud and conspiracy charges.Andre Jones, far left, smiles during Oakland mayor Sheng Thao's speech on Jan.
9, 2023. (Photo by Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)Sheng Thao is sworn in as the 51st Mayor of Oakland Jan. 9, 2023.
(Photo by Ray Chavez/ MediaNews Group/ via Getty Images)Thousands of documents containing email communications between staff members in the mayor's office were recently released and made public by the City of Oakland. The city was ordered to gather and hand over the documents to FBI agents and the U.S.
Attorney’s Office as they investigated Thao, Jones, and two members of the Duong family.Investigators requested a mountain of documents from the city, including all communications and meetings involving Jones during Thao's time in office.Federal investigators said businessmen David Duong and Andy Duong paid Jones money "disguised as wages for a no-show job.
" The indictment states that Andy Duong and a co-conspirator "agreed to produce and finance a negative mailer campaign targeting Thao’s opponents in the 2022 mayoral election," and promised to pay Jones $300,000 in wages for a bogus job.Andre Jones, the longtime boyfriend of Sheng Thao, exits United States District Court following an arraignment in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Jan.
17, 2025. (Photo by Dan Hernandez/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)The newly-released city documents show Thao's boyfriend clashed with the mayor's chief of staff, Renia Webb. Thao "wanted me (to) attend an event with her partner Andre Jones after knowing he has .
.. verbally cursed me on more than one occasion.
The environment I was working in became abusive, radical, and threatening," Webb wrote in a 2023 email after she resigned from her position.Patrick D. Robbins, assistant U.
S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, said Thao used her powers as mayor to enrich herself and Jones.Sheng Thao talks to reporters outside a courthouse in Oakland as Tuan Ngo, founder of Asians Unite, protests on Friday, Jan.
17, 2025. (Photo by Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)Investigators accused Jones of using money from his "no-show job" to pay for an Oakland rental home where he lived with Thao. The couple's house on Maiden Lane was raided by FBI agents in June of 2024.
On the morning of the raid, Jones was seen stopping by the house and at Oakland City Hall. The new documents include an official biography of Thao that was sent from the mayor's executive assistant to an AAPI leadership summit in 2024. The biography details Thao's life growing up in poverty, raising her son as a single mother, and embarking on her career as a political leader, and accomplishments as a city councilwoman.
Jones, her longtime boyfriend, was never mentioned in the bio.Jones accompanied Thao at special events and on trips, including a trip to Vietnam co-hosted by the Bay Area Council and the Vietnamese American Business Association. The new documents include a formal invitation written to Thao by David Duong, VABA's chairman.
The purpose of the trip was to "grow the trade relationship between California and Vietnam," the letter states.Thao, Jones, and the Duongs have pleaded not guilty to fraud, bribery, and conspiracy charges.Mayor Sheng Thao delivers her first State of the City address at City Hall on Oct.
17, 2023. (Jane Tyska/ /East Bay Times via Getty Images)While Jones never received a job at City Hall under Thao's tenure, the new documents detail who was in Thao's official inner circle. In a December 2022 email, Thao stated that she hired Leigh Hanson as a senior advisor with a $200,000 annual salary.
Hanson was later promoted to chief of staff by Thao. On Monday, Hanson was fired from her job after one of the newly released documents showed that she referred to Black people as "tokens." Oakland Interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins announced Monday that most of the Mayor’s Office staff will be released from their positions on April 11.
"It has always been our intention to allow our next Mayor to choose their own staff after the April 15 special election," Jenkins stated..
