The political giving of the Duong family has become the subject of increasing scrutiny following the FBI raids of David Duong and his son Andy Duong’s homes two weeks ago. Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s home was also raided by federal officers on the same day.
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The Duongs, owners of Oakland’s curbside recycling contractor California Waste Solutions, have donated millions of dollars to candidates for federal, state, and local office over the past several decades.
They’ve also been under investigation by the state Fair Political Practices Commission and Oakland Public Ethics Commission for allegedly funneling money through “straw donors” to the committees of local politicians, including members of the Oakland City Council, who’ve been in a position to vote favorably on contracts and other business the Doungs are seeking.
Now, some politicians who’ve taken money from the family are pledging to give it over to charities.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta received $155,100 from the Duongs and their associates for his campaigns but his team said they’re giving it all to charities “out of an abundance of caution,” according to ABC7. State Assemblymember Mia Bonta, who is married to Rob Bonta, has also taken money from the Duong family; her campaign plans to turn it over to nonprofit groups.
The Oaklandside closely reviewed campaign finance records going back to 2013. We learned that the Bontas have also received money from some of the suspected straw donors allegedly used by the Duongs to illegally give campaign contributions to Oakland politicians.
“Straw donors” are often friends, relatives, employees, or other associates of someone who wants to contribute a larger amount of money to a candidate or campaign than they are legally allowed to do so under campaign finance laws. That person will get people in their network to contribute smaller amounts of money out of their own pockets and later reimburse them.
The Duongs’ alleged straw donors include several men linked to the Music Cafe, a Chinatown karaoke bar that was busted in 2018 for selling cocaine and ketamine and human trafficking.
State campaign finance reports show that Rob Bonta has taken a combined $35,800 from Mon Kil Quan, the owner of the company that ran Music Cafe and held its liquor license, and Charlie Ngo, a manager at the karaoke bar who was arrested during the 2018 raid. ARDA LLC, a company owned by Quan that ran the Music Cafe, also gave Bonta’s campaign $1,500 in 2017. There is no indication that these donations were so-called straw donations.
State Alcohol Beverage Control agents were tipped off in 2018 about allegations of drug sales and prostitution at the Music Cafe, which was located on 9th Street in downtown Oakland. After infiltrating the bar pretending to be customers, agents were able to purchase ketamine and cocaine, and they set up a deal with one of the bar’s managers to take a young woman to the downtown Marriott Hotel for sex.
When they raided the bar in October 2018, the ABC agents recovered thousands in cash, drugs, and other evidence. Ngo was charged with possession of ketamine and selling ketamine.
Andy Duong was not named in the ABC report written after the raid, and he was never accused of any wrongdoing.
However, investigators with the state Fair Political Practices Commission wrote in a report from 2021 that Duong talked about being the owner of Sancha Bar, the tea shop and bakery that shared space in the same building as Music Cafe and that he also held himself out to people as an owner of the Music Cafe karaoke bar.
Ngo’s first contribution to Bonta was for his 2022 reelection campaign—he donated $500. Campaign records show the money arrived on Oct. 19, the same day that Ngo gave Terry Wiley’s campaign for Alameda County District Attorney $500.
That was also the day that Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley’s office—where Wiley served as Assistant DA—decided to dismiss the case against Ngo “in the interest of justice.”
Quan gave $16,200 to Bonta’s 2022 reelection campaign and $18,200 last year to Bonta’s 2026 reelection committee, according to state records.
When Mia Bonta was running for state Assembly in 2021, Quan contributed $9,800, according to state records.
Nathan Click, a spokesperson for Rob Bonta’s campaign, said that the $155,100 flagged in recent media reports as money recieved from the Duongs includes money from “any of their business entities or associates mentioned in the recent coverage or the FPPC report,” and that all of this is being donated to charities. “The checks to the charities were disbursed Sunday June 30. They will show up on our July 31 report,” he said.
Click also told Politico today that David Duong and Andy Duong weren’t particularly close to the Bontas. In response to a characterization that Andy Duong made in a letter to his father about Rob Bonta, calling him the Duong’s “best ally to ever,” Click said, “That has never been true.”
Mia Bonta’s campaigns did not respond to interview requests today.
The Bontas supported Sheng Thao early on in the Oakland mayor’s race, appearing at her Nov. 10, 2021, campaign launch event. Thao is one of several Oakland councilmembers whose election campaigns have received thousands of dollars in suspected straw donor contributions traced by investigators back to the Duongs.
Quan gave Thao’s officeholder committee $800 in 2019 and provided her with another $800 through a company he owned, Teamac Imports.
The Oaklandside was unable to contact Quan and Ngo for this story.
This story was updated on July 4 with comments from Rob Bonta’s campaign.
