OAKLAND — A member of the family that runs the Oakland recycling operation and whose home was recently raided by the FBI was also involved within the operations of a former coffee shop and karaoke lounge that the state agency linked to alleged drug dealing, pimping and human trafficking, records show.
Andy Duong, whose family runs the recycling company California Waste Solutions, “posed as the owner” of the Music Cafe, a downtown restaurant and karaoke lounge, records show. The business, which closed in February 2019, was linked to “straw donors” that Duong allegedly used to hide donations to Oakland and South Bay candidates.
His Oakland Hills home was searched by federal authorities on June 20, together with the homes of his father, David Duong, and Mayor Sheng Thao, in addition to the offices of California Waste Solutions.
Andy Duong was never arrested or charged with a criminal offense in reference to the Liquor Control Board's 2018 investigation of the Music Cafe in Oakland's Chinatown. The investigation into the cafe resulted in three arrests and two convictions for conspiracy and aiding and abetting.
A spokesman for the Duong family didn’t reply to specific questions on Andy Duong's alleged ties to the ninth Street Café, but in a general statement described the family as “good citizens who always obey the law.”
“We believe we have not been involved in or committed any illegal activities and are awaiting the decision of law enforcement,” the statement said.
A person allegedly a “straw man donor” on behalf of the Duong family was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking following a raid on the cafe.
Charlie Ngo, 35, the alleged “straw man donor,” was among the many individuals who either managed, owned or were related to the cafe and donated around $18,000 between 2016 and 2018, mostly to candidates for Oakland City Council. They all allegedly donated money within the name of Andy Duong, who was accused of getting “cash in a drawer in his CWS office” that he donated to a person tasked with soliciting straw man donors, Fair Political Practices Commission documents say. An investigation is ongoing.
Since 2019, Andy and David Duong have been under investigation by the town's Ethics Commission for allegedly evading campaign finance limits through the use of various individuals and firms to funnel money to candidates.
In a motion for a declaration of reasonable suspicion in reference to the sham donor investigation, Angela J. Brereton, director of the FPPC's enforcement office, wrote that Andy Duong “is associated with several businesses, including … the former Sancha Bar/Music Cafe.”
Investigators with the Oakland Public Ethics Commission wrote in a separate document that they “are in possession of private messages in which Andy Duong identifies himself as the owner of the Music Café, also known as Sancha Bar.”
Brereton wrote that state Rep. Ash Kalra told investigators that “Duong spoke about his business, Sancha Bar/Music Cafe. Kalra stated he knew Duong owned that business.”
Kalra provided investigators with several text messages he received from Duong, including one from October 2017 about Duong's karaoke club, “in which Duong asks Kalra to let him know when he wants to come over so he can set it up 'really well for you.' Duong also sent a photo of the karaoke room. According to Kalra, he had lunch with Duong years ago but did not discuss campaign contributions.”
“These interviews demonstrate how much access Duong had to the candidates, how he hosted fundraisers even though he made no campaign contributions himself, and how much Duong knew about his failure to make contributions when CWS was bidding for a contract. In addition, Duong had the opportunity to promote another company, Sancha Bar,” court documents say.
In an announcement sent Friday, Kalra's office said FPPC records show that Kalra “fully cooperated with the FPPC in its investigation of California Waste Solutions and Andy Duong in 2020.”
“Other than a few text messages and a single lunch six years ago, as noted in the filing, the Assembly member had no relationship with Mr. Duong and has not returned to his premises or had any contact with him since,” wrote Zena Hallak, Kalra's communications director.
According to a 208-page State Liquor Control investigation file obtained by this news organization, 4 undercover agents made several late-night visits to the cafe in 2018. Inside, they said, they managed to steal ketamine and ecstasy from employees.
About 20 female “companions” were brought into the undercover officers' karaoke room for selection, police records show. The investigators said they paid each of their companions $100 to return along.
The women went from room to room and were capable of get drugs from the agents, the police file said. After obtaining a search warrant, agents searched the constructing on Oct. 4, 2018, and seized greater than $1,000 in money and medicines they found on the premises, police said.
Andy Duong just isn’t named within the ABC investigation. The cafe was closed 4 months after the raid.
Three people were arrested and charged with crimes related to the investigation in October 2018. Alleged straw donor Ngo was ultimately charged with only two serious crimes: possession on the market and sale of ketamine., Charges that were later dropped.
There isn’t any suspicion that the opposite two co-defendants were used as straw man donors.
A defendant originally charged with 11 counts, including human trafficking, sale and possession of narcotics, and pimping and procuring, was pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit a criminal offense.
The other perpetrator accepted a deal in June 2022 through which he pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting after the actual fact. In return, prosecutors dropped three charges of possession of ketamine on the market.
According to the FPPC's filing, Ngo didn’t have the funds for in his checking account to make the contributions he made. For example, he donated $700 to Friends of Desley Brooks despite having only $49.58 in his checking account; $700 to re-elect Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid in 2016 despite having only $2.14; and donated $800 again to Brooks, the previous Oakland City Councilwoman, in 2018 despite having $5.32.
Each time, “he made a large deposit shortly before or after writing his check,” city investigators said in court documents. He can also be listed in campaign documents as a donor who gave $700 to Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan in 2016, $700 to Oakland City Council candidate Viola Gonzales, $600 to San Jose City Councilor Tam Nguyen and $250 to Milpitas City Councilor Anthony Phan's campaign in 2016.
According to records, Mayor Thao, then a city councilor, received a complete of $2,400 from people related to the cafe.
One of the cafe owners admitted to donating $5,000 to then-Oakland City Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney's legal aid fund and $800 to then-Oakland City Councilman Abel Guillen. These elected officials weren’t charged with violating campaign finance laws.
The criminal defense attorney representing Ngo said he “welcomes all efforts to hold Oakland officers accountable for their actions.”
“It is critical, however, that the public recognize that these investigations may be politically motivated and disproportionately target people of color,” said attorney Curtis Briggs, who also represented Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow in a wide-ranging public corruption case in San Francisco.
But even after the “straw donor” allegations, Ngo, who now lives in Sacramento, was not finished sending campaign contributions.
On October 19, 2022, he sent a $500 donation to the campaign of Terry Wiley, who was then just weeks away from Election Day and was making an ultimately unsuccessful bid for the office of Alameda County District Attorney. The money was transferred the identical day that the District Attorney's Office decided to drop the case “in the interest of justice.”
Wiley said he was on voluntary leave from the district attorney's office on the time to run his campaign and was not involved within the case. He didn’t know Ngo and denied knowing in regards to the donation. Wiley, who’s now set to grow to be an Alameda County judge after running unopposed in March, just isn’t suspected of any wrongdoing.
“How am I supposed to know who is who? Hundreds, thousands of people are donating to my campaign,” he said in a recent interview. “I ran a clean campaign. I want to get to the bottom of this.”
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