The Oaklandside23%
Here’s everyone testifying at Sheng Thao’s corruption trial 3%
By Natalie Orenstein19%
7/31/2026, 5:21:45 PM
Topics: Oakland Corruption Trial, Witness List
BS Summary: This article contains 10 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Negativity Bias, and Appeal to Emotion, with Availability Heuristic as the most egregious example at 7.8% saturation with 65 hits. Analysis detected 444 faulty-reasoning hits from 835 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 11.8% and a BS Rank of 3% (24,503 of 25,252 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 97.00% of the article peer group.
At the end of a week of <a href="https://oaklandside.org/2026/07/28/blackmail-bribes-oakland-corruption-trial-sheng-thao-duong/">explosive revelations</a> in the federal corruption case involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, the government has revealed the people it plans to call to the stand at the October trial.
Thao, her romantic partner Andre Jones, and Oakland recycling contractors David and Andy Duong are all <a href="https://oaklandside.org/2025/01/17/oakland-fbi-corruption-mayor-sheng-thao-andre-jones-duong-family-bribes/">charged</a> with participating in an elaborate bribery scheme.
Prosecutors allege that Thao and Jones accepted payments and election help from the Duongs in exchange for Thao agreeing to support their businesses and grant them political favors.
All four defendants have pleaded not guilty.
The <a href="https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gov.uscourts.cand_.442565.253.0.pdf">72-person witness list</a> released Friday includes elected officials in the city and county, political consultants, local businesspeople, police officers, bank employees, FBI and IRS agents, Port of Oakland bureaucrats, and city staffers, including people who used to work for Thao.
The government said it may not call all of these witnesses and that it reserves the right to add more people as the case progresses.
Two people who’ve pleaded guilty to charges related to the bribery allegations — former San Leandro Councilmember Bryan Azevedo and entrepreneur Mario Juarez — will also testify.
Prosecutors also released their <a href="https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/show_temp-3.pdf">exhibit list</a>, which includes messages and images taken from the defendants’ phones and other devices.
Notably, they’re planning to introduce hundreds of pictures and videos from Andy Duong’s phone.
In a filing last week, the government alleged that Duong took videos of numerous local officials in compromising situations — including partying with “scantily clad women” — with the intention of using the videos as blackmail.
Here’s the entire witness list
*The following names and descriptions are taken from the court filing published Friday.
We edited one description that was inaccurate.
*
1.
Jestin Johnson – Former Oakland City Administrator
2.
Samari Johnson – Butterfly Direct Marketing
3.
Renia Webb – Former Chief of Staff to Sheng Thao
4.
Cesley Frost – Evolutionary Homes
5.
Larry Gallegos – Former City of Oakland Employee
6.
Julie Wedge – Evolutionary Homes
7.
Julie Caskey – Former Thao Campaign Manager
8.
Chris Wedge – Evolutionary Homes
9.
Cecilia Mendez – Evolutionary Homes
10.
Brandon Harami – Former City of Oakland Employee
11.
Jimmy Hoang – City of Oakland Employee
12.
Betsy Lake – City of Oakland Employee
13.
Louansee Moua – Sheng Thao Associate and California Waste Solutions Consultant
14.
Harold Duffey – Former City of Oakland Employee
15.
Jelani Killings – City of Oakland Employee
16.
Francis Zamora – Former City of Oakland Employee
17.
Leigh Hanson – Former City of Oakland Employee
18.
Noah Finneburgh – Thao Mayoral Campaign Member
19.
Tonya Allen – City of Oakland Employee
20.
Brittany Hines – City of Oakland Employee
21.
Asha Reed – City of Oakland Clerk
22.
Mario Juarez – Evolutionary Homes
23.
Steven Falk – Former City of Oakland Employee
24.
Emily Weinstein – City of Oakland Employee
25.
Zach Goldman – Former City of Oakland Employee
26.
Latonda Simmons – Former City of Oakland Employee
27.
Cheryl Ho – Port of Oakland
28.
Danny Wan – Port of Oakland
29.
Bryan Azevedo – Former San Leandro Councilperson
30.
Teresa Hoang – VABA/CWS
31.
Phua Gilman – Vantage Solutions
32.
Nikki Fortunado Bas – Former Oakland City Councilperson
33.
Kevin Jenkins – Oakland City Councilperson
34.
Officer Luan Mai – Oakland Police Department
35.
Officer Bryant Ocampo – Oakland Police Department
36.
Rebecca Scatena – JP Morgan Chase
37.
Taylor Blevins – Bank of America
38.
Tavares Nichols – City of Oakland Employee
39.
Joseph Pettway – City of Oakland Employee
40.
Andrea Pomicpic – City of Oakland Employee
41.
Sean O’Brien – City of Oakland Vendor
42.
Richy Abraham – City of Oakland Vendor
43.
Special Agent Katherine Barclay – FBI
44.
Special Agent Tyler Nave – FBI
45.
Special Agent Alexandra Bryant – FBI
46.
Staff Operations Specialist Stephanie Watt – FBI
47.
Special Agent James Folger – FBI
48.
Special Agent Katie Taylor – FBI
49.
Forensic Examiner Michael Kan – FBI
50.
Special Agent James Webb – FBI
51.
Special Agent Rachael Grace – FBI
52.
Special Agent Jeff Byram – FBI
53.
Special Agent Amanda Chung – FBI
54.
U.S.
Postal Inspector Christopher McCollow
55.
U.S.
Postal Inspector Zackery O’Connor
56.
U.S.
Postal Inspector Jeffrey Fitch
57.
U.S.
Postal Inspector Aaron Parker
58.
U.S.
Postal Inspector Sandra Alvarez-Ramirez
59.
U.S.
Postal Inspection Service Forensic Computer Analyst, Senior, Christopher Wilkins
60.
U.S.
Postal Inspection Service Forensic Computer Analyst, Senior, Pete Gonzalez
61.
Special Agent Christine Stegner – IRS-CI
62.
Special Agent Ben Nikssarin – IRS-CI
63.
Special Agent Imran Khan – IRS-CI
64.
Special Agent Michael Hammond – IRS-CI
65.
Special Agent Jesse Bumanlag – IRS-CI
66.
Special Agent Cindy Ho – IRS-CI
67.
IRS Analyst Huy (Derrick) Dang
68.
IRS Analyst Daniel Martinelli
69.
Chain of Custody Witnesses – FBI
70.
Chain of Custody Witnesses – USPIS
71.
Chain of Custody Witnesses – IRS-CI
72.
Custodians of Records
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.