Breaking: FBI Agents Raid Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s Home

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s home was raided by the FBI on Thursday morning, with the exact reason for the raid not being officially announced as of noon on Thursday.

At 6 A.M. Thursday morning, FBI agents arrived at Thao’s home on Maiden Lane in Oakland’s Lincoln Highlands neighborhood in the Oakland Hills. Warrants were served, with Thao being escorted out by agents. For several hours, the FBI stayed at her home with the media receiving very little about the raid beyond it being “court-appointed”. The Justice Department also confirmed later that agents were inside Thao’s home, with ABC also reporting that both the IRS and U.S. Postal Service were also involved in the raid.

BREAKING: Sources tell ABC News that the FBI raid at home of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao also involves the IRS and U.S. Postal Service. I just arrived at the scene. Spotted FBI Agent briefly on balcony. pic.twitter.com/KrUb0yL6uk

— Dan Noyes (@dannoyes) June 20, 2024

“The FBI is conducting court authorized law enforcement activity on Maiden Lane. We are unable to provide additional information at this time,” the FBI told all media outlets Thursday morning.

Just after 10 A.M., multiple agents came out of Thao’s home with boxes, which were quickly driven away. All remaining agents soon left the scene following that.

Multiple outlets, including the Globe, contacted the Mayor’s office about the raid, but as of Thursday noon, they have yet to give so much as a statement on the matter. It is known, however, that Thao cancelled an event planned for 10 A.M. as a result.

While the official reason for the raid has yet to be announced, many outlets have offered speculatory reasons. According to ABC, the raid was over “a public corruption investigation of Thao and her boyfriend.” The San Francisco Chronicle, meanwhile, noted that the FBI searched a separate home in Oakland Hills on Thursday, whose owner owns California Waste Solutions. That company went under an investigation in 2020 over multiple Oakland City Councilmembers receiving illegal campaign contributions, including then City Councilwoman Thao. Multiple outlets on Thursday also said that Thao’s home was one of four raided by the FBI in the Oakland area on Thursday morning, with warrants being served and executed.

What is known is that the Thursday raid created yet another setback for Thao this week. On Tuesday, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters announced that enough signatures had been verified to put the Mayoral recall election against That on the ballot, likely for November. This was followed up by many Democratic groups distancing themselves from Thao on Wednesday as a result of the recall election being green-lit for later this year. The FBI raid Thursday, as well as the upcoming announcement over what exactly the reason for it was, have only capped off Thao’s tumultuous week.

However, Frank Ma, a former law enforcement official who now works as a security advisor for businesses in San Francisco and cities in the Peninsula, told the Globe on Thursday that the raid had nothing to do with the recall.

“I called some of my buddies over in Oakland, one of whom had been in the FBI, and they said it had nothing to do with the FBI. This was a separate thing. They’re all in the dark, however, to what else it can be. It is clear that it is some sort of serious investigation. From experience, law enforcement officials don’t raid the homes of people early in the morning on smaller charges. Raids I was part of involved crime rings, drugs, and things of that nature usually.”

“I can only speculate, but what everyone is saying about a corruption investigation of some sort fits in to the sort of reasons why we would have done an early morning raid.”

“But I can say this. This does no favors for Thao. She needed to be squeaky clean following that recall election announcement on Tuesday, and two days later, she’s making headlines because the FBI raided her house. That doesn’t look great for someone now fighting for their political lives, does it?”

As of Thursday at noon, the FBI or Mayor Thao has yet to give an official announcement of what the raid entailed.