FBI raids: Obscure Oakland homebuilder highlights ties between Duongs and East Bay’s messy politics

OAKLAND – The Oakland waterfront office suite that FBI and IRS agents raided last week wasn’t just home to the Duong family’s recycling company — but also an obscure homebuilder that ties the influential family to a political operative with a checkered past that includes controversial campaign tactics.

Evolutionary Homes LLC, which sells shipping container homes, enjoys far less name recognition in Oakland than its owners’ other business, California Waste Solutions. The Embarcadero suite the companies use was among four addresses stormed by federal agents June 20 in a surprise investigation that also saw the homes of David Duong, Andy Duong and Mayor Sheng Thao raided.

Both businesses are owned and run by the Duongs, the Vietnamese business leaders and political donors who have spent years under a cloud of accusations that they orchestrated an illicit campaign donation scheme across Alameda and Santa Clara counties.

It’s unclear if Evolutionary Homes is a subject of the feds’ investigation — so far, no arrests or charges have been announced against anyone. But state business filings show that the Duongs partnered with Mario Juarez, a two-time Oakland council candidate whose recent campaign dealings have drawn the attention of Alameda County prosecutors and the state’s political watchdog.

In a shocking turn of events, Juarez was assaulted at the Evolutionary Homes building — one of two attacks that included a shooting at his home in the weeks before the June 20 raids, according to his attorney and authorities. He suffered “serious” injuries in the early May assault at 1211 Embarcadero, his attorney, Ernie Castillo, confirmed Friday. Juarez was later met with gunfire on June 9 at his house on the 1800 block of Fruitvale Avenue, authorities said. He escaped injury and no arrests have been announced.

“These were definitely attempts to murder Mario,” Castillo said in an interview.

Even though Evolutionary Homes lists only six employees on its website, the little-known homebuilder’s roster appears to have extensive political reach.

One listed employee, Cesley Frost, is the interim chief of staff to Alameda County Supervisor Lena Tam. Two other listed staffers are the married political consulting team of Julie and Chris Wedge, who each spent several years working for Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, with Julie as her chief of staff and campaign manager. This year, they were the treasurers of Juarez’s campaign for a seat on the county Democratic central committee, according to campaign records. The Wedges did not respond to a request for comment.

The couple’s time with Kaplan came two years after Mayor Thao worked for Kaplan alongside her partner, former chief of staff Andre Jones.

Both Thao and Kaplan have been beneficiaries of campaign donations by the Duongs – including contributions flagged by local and state regulators as potentially fraudulent. Investigators suspect the money had been funneled through obscure third-party entities to circumvent donation limits.

Investigations by the Oakland Public Ethics Commission and the California Fair Political Practices Commission into the alleged “straw-donor” schemes — which documents show amounted to tens of thousands of dollars — remain open and active, regulators say.

Attempts by this news organization this week to reach listed employees of Evolutionary Homes, as well as Kaplan, were unsuccessful.

In response to a question about Evolutionary Homes, Supervisor Tam said Thursday in a text message: “I have no knowledge of the company you cited and believe it no longer exists.” She added that her chief of staff “has never worked for the Duongs or their associate companies” and is merely a “friend of Andy Duong.”

A representative for the Duongs declined to respond to questions about the container home business, instead sending the only statement released on behalf of the family since last week’s raids.

In it, the Duongs claimed they were “very surprised” by the FBI’s searches, and stressed they were cooperating with the investigation. The statement highlighted the family’s four-decade tenure in the Bay Area, and noted that they had established relationships with people and businesses “everywhere.”

“We believe that we have not engaged in or committed any illegal activities and are awaiting the decision of the law enforcement agency,” said the statement sent by Teresa Hoang, an executive with the Vietnamese American Business Association. “In the meantime, CWS will continue to proudly provide recycling services to countless communities throughout the Bay Area.”

In videos posted to YouTube in December, Juarez boasted about Evolutionary Homes’ mission of providing direly-needed housing for homeless women and children. The one-bedroom, one-bath modular homes – which appear to resemble shipping containers – are built for nearly $300,000 apiece and include a kitchen and washer-dryer system, according to the company’s website.

“The shelters that we provide are beautiful,” Juarez said in the video, which was produced by the Vietnamese American Business Association, an organization with deep ties to the Duong family. Juarez added that the homes “were built around the idea that we wanted to inspire people to be better.”

A month after appearing in the video, Juarez ran into legal trouble.

In January, Alameda County prosecutors charged Juarez in a felony fraud case that stemmed from election mailers Juarez allegedly orchestrated against Thao’s chief political rival — mayoral opponent Loren Taylor — during the final 10 days of the 2022 mayoral campaign. His attack ads also targeted mayoral candidate Ignacio De La Fuente and former Mayor Libby Schaaf.

Prosecutors say Juarez commissioned the flyers from an Oakland direct mailing company by writing nearly $53,600 in checks that bounced, because he had less than $215 in this bank account at the time, court records show. He has since pleaded not guilty. Juarez could not be reached for comment, but his attorney called his client innocent and framed the charges as “politically motivated and unfortunate.”

The Fair Political Practices Commission has an open investigation into the mailers after Juarez ignored warnings that he had not filed disclosure forms stating where his money came from, as required by state law.

It marked the latest twist in a career of grand entrepreneurial ambitions and numerous financial woes for Juarez.

At various points over the last few decades, he either started or operated companies focused on debt collection, entertainment, clean energy and real estate – many of which are no longer in business.

At the same time, county records show regulators filed at least $96,000 worth of state and federal tax liens against him since 2015. At least three of the state liens remained outstanding earlier this week, while the status of a $79,000 federal lien was unclear. He also was forced to surrender his real estate license in 2015 amid allegations of wrongful business dealings.

Recent government filings suggest the Duongs may have asserted greater control over the company and its leadership. Filings in 2023 and 2024 list David Duong for the first time, while Juarez’s name disappeared from California Secretary of State records.

Even so, Juarez continued to serve as a spokesman for Evolutionary Homes through at least late 2023, appearing in videos posted online to lay out a vision for the company’s future.

“A lot of government agencies, they’re interested in doing business with us,” Juarez said, while suggesting that deals had already been struck. “And I think it has a lot to do with the fact we speak business to government.”

Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495, or email him at smukherjee@bayareanewsgroup.com.