Why Did the FBI Raid the Home of Oakland's Mayor?

An unfolding scandal in a crime-plagued city. More details and questions emerge.

At a public celebration of Juneteenth at Oakland’s Lake Merritt, 15 people were shot in a gunfight on the street, one of them fatally.

But that wasn’t the most newsworthy event in Oakland last week. The mass shooting was overshadowed in local news by the revelation the next morning that the FBI had conducted a raid of the Mayor’s house, a garbage company called California Waste Solutions, and the homes owned by David Duong, the owner of the firm.

Together, the two stories illustrate the dire situation in which Mayor Sheng Thao finds herself, as the leader of a crime-ridden city in freefall who is now in the middle of an unfolding political scandal. Just two days before the FBI raid, a campaign to recall Thao from office qualified for the November ballot. Now voters are wondering whether she’ll even make it that long.

The FBI has made no public comment about the raid, which was one of four conducted jointly with the IRS and the US Postal Inspector on four separate sites. But the investigation likely centers on a local political operative with a history of financial fraud named Mario Juarez and his ties to California Waste Solutions, the waste management firm owned by Duong.