OAKLAND, Calif. — Secret audio recordings captured longtime Oakland businessman David Duong proclaiming “a deal is a deal,” while railing about then-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s lack of follow-through in late 2023 on an alleged bribery scheme.

“I will go to jail for this,” added David Duong, while voicing his resolve to ensure the mayor upheld her end of the agreement.

The recordings – captured clandestinely without David Duong’s knowledge – were played publicly in court for the first time Wednesday as prosecutors forged ahead in presenting their conspiracy and fraud case against Thao, David Duong and their two co-defendants.

Thao and her romantic partner, Andre Jones, are accused of selling access to City Hall and promising millions of dollars in city contracts with a housing company, Evolutionary Homes. In exchange, prosecutors say David Duong and his son, Andy Duong, funneled thousands of dollars in bribery payments to the couple, much of it in the form of a $300,000 “no-show” job for Jones through the housing company, founded in part by the Duongs.

All four of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to a slew of federal conspiracy and fraud charges, the most serious of which carry a potential 20-year prison sentence.

Taken together, the recordings paint a picture of mounting dissatisfaction – and at times, outright anger – with Thao and Jones over their plodding progress in holding up their end of the alleged illicit bribery deal. All of them include the voice of Mario Juarez, a longtime East Bay political operative who has since pleaded guilty in the alleged bribery scheme and is expected to testify in the coming days as the government’s star witness.

Juarez himself spoke up after David Duong lamented that “a deal is a deal” during their Nov. 28, 2023, conversation, according to the recordings.

“I have a long memory and I’m pretty vengeful,” Juarez said. “And with her, it will not be a difference.”

“There are consequences to not keeping your end of the bargain,” he added. “But that’s her decision.”

The discontent appeared to have been brewing for weeks, the recordings show. Earlier that month, on Nov. 6, 2023, David Duong expressed incredulity at a request by Andre Jones for another $20,000. By that time, Jones had already received $85,000 from the Duongs, according to the recordings.

“I can’t believe it. They’ve not done anything … and then they’re asking for more money?” David Duong asked.

“It’s an insult,” Juarez said.

“Tell him to go to Mexico to collect,” David Duong added.

“If he goes to Mexico, I’m going to kill him,” Juarez replied, adding with a laugh, “he won’t come back alive.”

All of the recordings played for the jury Wednesday were secretly captured by Cecilia Mendez, who served as a volunteer assistant with Evolutionary Homes in late 2023 and early 2024.

She recalled Juarez – who is the father of her daughter and a decades-long business partner – asking her to take notes during the company’s board meetings. She said she then secretly recorded them to ensure her notes were complete.

Mendez took the stand under a court order compelling her to testify, after her attorney signaled the day before that she planned to assert her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. It is illegal in California to record people without all parties to the conversation knowing it.

On cross-examination, David Duong’s attorney hounded Mendez about the court order compelling her to testify.

“You have immunity for anything you’re asked about, right? That’s the benefit you’re getting here in testifying right?” asked the attorney, Ed Swanson.

“Yes,” Mendez answered.

Defense attorneys recently lost a bid to keep the recordings from being presented as evidence, after complaining there was no way to ensure they weren’t fake or somehow altered. The concerns were based on the fact the recordings were personally provided to investigators, and were not seized as part of a search warrant or other court-ordered process.

In fighting to allow the recordings, one prosecutor said earlier this week that the defense’s concerns were “coming out of left field.”

“This is core evidence in our case,” said Molly Priedeman, an assistant United States attorney.

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