Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Tao and three others have been indicted on a series of federal charges including conspiracy and bribery. The indictment, unsealed and announced in California on Friday, is the culmination of an investigation led by the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Internal Revenue Service.

Also charged in the indictment are Tao's longtime love, Andre Jones, and David and Andy Duong, a father-and-son business duo. Combined, they own Cal Waste Solutions, which collects recyclables for Oakland's more than 436,000 residents. The four are accused of orchestrating a scheme in which Thao allegedly extended a contract with California Waste Solutions, appointed senior officials allegedly aiding the Duong family's business interests and purchased homes from another company owned by the Duong family unit.

In exchange, the Duong family allegedly promised a direct cash payment of $300,000 for Jones' "absentee" job and allegedly committed $75,000 to a mailing campaign targeting Thao's opponents in the 2022 mayoral election.

The indictment also names an unnamed person known only as "Co-conspirator 1," who founded the company that Thao allegedly promised to purchase a home with the Duong family before the November 2022 mayoral election. participated in the development of the plan.

"Our communities rely on local governments to provide critical services," Patrick D. Robbins of the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release. "The public needs to know they can trust the people in charge of City Hall to work in the best interests of the people. Public trust is broken when elected officials agree to a pay-to-play system to benefit themselves."

The federal indictment was unsealed nearly three months after Tao, 39, was ousted by Oakland voters and seven months after Tao's Oakland home was raided by the FBI. The Guardian reported last June that at the time, Tao denied any wrongdoing and said the timing of the raid was suspicious because days earlier, city clerks had notified supporters of the mayor’s recall that they had collected enough signatures are eligible to vote.

The Guardian contacted Tao's lawyer for comment but had not received a reply by the time of publication.

Andy Duong's lawyer, Winston Chan, said his client was innocent and the allegations against him were "baseless."

"Despite the frenzied media reports over the past few months, we have remained silent in the hope that the government will properly realize through objective investigation that these accusations are baseless and are nothing more than gossip and speculation," Chen said in a statement. Cobbled together from the fabrications and delusions of those lacking basic credibility.

“But it’s disappointing that Andy is now the latest in a long line of Asian Americans who have been unfairly singled out for daring to be politically active and forced to pay the price.”

Robbins of the U.S. Attorney's Office said the investigation was prompted by information shared with the FBI by personnel from the Oakland Public Ethics Commission. According to the indictment posted online by local news outlet Oaklandside, the alleged conspiracy between the Duong family, Thao and Jones began weeks before the 2022 mayoral election, which Thao narrowly won by 677 votes.

In early October 2022, the conspirators allegedly met with Thao to discuss the terms of the agreement. After that meeting, the co-conspirator broke down his meeting with Thao in a text message exchange with Andy Duong, information that is included in the indictment. In the messages, co-conspirators told Andy Duong that Thao agreed to purchase 100 of their homes for $300,000 each.

After Thao won the election, a co-conspirator texted Andy Duong: "So we might go to jail... but we have $100 million more." Andy Duong allegedly replied: "Money will do Buy everything.”

In December, Jones, Thao's longtime love, began cashing checks from bank accounts of co-conspirators and real estate companies owned by Anonymous and the Duong family. Although Tao, a Democrat, did not cash the check, she allegedly benefited from the payments to Jones because the two lived together and the money was allegedly used to pay rent and other household bills, the indictment said.