AG Rob Bonta told he was in ‘compromising’ video amid East Bay corruption probe

OAKLAND California Attorney General Rob Bonta received a letter last year warning him that East Bay businessman Andy Duong had a recording of the politician in a compromising position and that he may be at peril of blackmail The emergence of the May letter follows the revelation that Bonta spent of his campaign cash on lawyers while being questioned by federal personnel examining a sprawling East Bay corruption episode which later ensnared Duong and several others The missive which was sent directly to Bonta s office was penned and signed by Mario Juarez a two-time Oakland City Council candidate and longtime political operative whose credibility has come under withering attack in newest court filings Whether it spurred the attorney general s subsequent legal bills remained unclear Thursday Bonta s senior advisor Dan Newman declared the two were not related but that the letter was shared with law enforcement and they provided appropriate follow-up On Wednesday Newman narrated this news organization that that Bonta s legal bills were for the sole purpose of providing information that could be helpful to the analysis of those implicated in the ongoing criminal probe He added that Bonta was never a target of the probe and that the AG s involvement is over The Los Angeles Times also quoted Newman Wednesday as saying that federal investigators had reached out to the attorney general since he was a accomplishable victim in the alleged corruption scenario Calls by this news organization to Bonta and an attorney for Andy Duong were not returned Thursday The letter a copy of which was obtained by this news organization was dated May and provided no details about the alleged recording of Bonta Instead it only suggested that Andy Duong engages in entertaining elected and other administrators to extract recordings without their knowledge to later use in blackmail circumstances It added that the revelation of the videos would cause residents embarrassment at the least or expose illicit programs including the use of drugs among other matters Bonta was a common fixture on Andy Duong s Instagram page in contemporary years seen in photos inside a limousine at a Golden State Warriors meeting alongside famed Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao and at numerous political events Andy Duong went so far as to call the attorney general a brother in one post that included pictures of the two together over the years The letter s author Juarez is widely deduced to be the apparent FBI informant and unidentified Co-Conspirator that federal prosecutors relied upon while securing indictments earlier this year against former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao her romantic partner Andre Jones and Andy Duong along with his father David Duong Federal prosecutors say Thao accepted bribes from Andy and David Duong in the form of political favors and a no-show job for Jones In return prosecutors claimed Thao promised to secure lucrative city contracts for a fledgling housing company co-founded by David Duong as well as for the Duongs recycling business California Waste Solutions Throughout the indictments federal prosecutors repeatedly referenced an unnamed Co-Conspirator who played a pivotal role in the alleged scheme For example the co-conspirator was present for a December meeting in San Leandro when Thao Jones and Andy Duong reached an initial agreement for Jones to receive as a no-show employee of the Duongs new housing venture the indictments stated Prosecutors also claimed the co-conspirator funneled thousands of dollars to Jones as part of the scheme And personnel say the co-conspirator played a crucial role in sending last-minute vote mailers allegedly paid for by the Duongs to attack Thao s political opponents during the mayoral polling according to the indictments One text message sent by the co-conspirator to Andy Duong after that voting quipped that we may go to jail but we are million dollars sic richer according to the indictments Money buys everything Andy Duong allegedly replied according to the indictment Juarez also faced state check fraud charges over the campaign mailers though the Alameda County District Attorney s Office later dismissed that situation amid concerns about whether it could be proved at trial Juarez s letter to Bonta came on the heels of a bitter falling out with the Duong family And his credibility has since been challenged by David Duong s attorneys who has sought to erode the governing body s event by attacking their apparent star witness In court filings David Duong s attorneys claimed that co-conspirator a decades-long history of fraud which leaves his declares fundamentally unreliable More egregiously the affidavit did not reveal that Co-Conspirator has repeatedly falsely accused business partners of crimes and other wrongdoing in efforts to escape liability for his own actions just as he did here Duongs attorneys wrote in the filing On Thursday attorneys for Thao and Andre Jones joined in David Duong s motion attacking Juarez s credibility ahead of trial Edward Swanson the attorney for David Duong revealed Thursday his client strongly denies the charges in this letter As we highlighted in our lately filed motion regarding the search warrants Mario Juarez is not to be supposed Swanson revealed Juarez s May letter to Bonta also read as a whistleblower s plea to the state s top prosecutor including accusations that Jones received more than for fictitious work as well as illegal financial contributions during the mayoral campaign Juarez noted he took his concerns to Bonta because he feared that the Duong Family has close ties to individuals in leadership of the Oakland Police Department though he offered no details about who that might be Bonta s Society Inquiry Unit responded to Juarez on June urging him to take his concerns to local functionaries who are primarily responsible for concerns about law enforcement agencies or their employees according to a copy of the letter obtained by this news organization Juarez did not respond to a request for comment Days before Juarez sent the letter he and the Duongs had a violent falling out at the Oakland waterfront showroom of their joint housing venture Evolutionary Homes On May Juarez claimed he was assaulted by members of the Duong family while the family communicated Alameda County prosecutors that Juarez held them for hours demanding money and they feared for their safety according to court documents The spat erupted after the Duongs complained about receiving little from their million in the housing company A month later Juarez published being the target of a shooting at his Fruitvale home though Oakland police have yet to reveal a suspected motive behind the encounter Jakob Rodgers is a senior current news reporter Call text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at - - or email him at jrodgers bayareanewsgroup com