Indictment comes seven months after FBI raided her home, with formal announcement scheduled to happen on Friday. Sheng Thao, the former mayor of Oakland, California has been indicted by a federal grand jury, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The indictment comes seven months after an FBI raid on Thao’s home and two months after she was recalled by voters in Oakland.
The anonymous source interviewed by the Chronicle added that the formal announcement of the indictment is scheduled to happen on Friday, so little is known about what exactly Thao will be charged with. On Thursday the US attorney’s office issued a press advisory stating that the FBI, US Postal Service and US Internal Revenue Service will reveal a “significant law enforcement action”, reported Oaklandside, a local news outlet.
Thao’s brief tenure as the mayor of Oakland has been marked with controversy that culminated in her being removed from the office via a recall. The district attorney was also recalled during that election. Thao fired Oakland’s police chief Leronne Armstrong in February 2023. She argued that she lost confidence in Armstrong after an investigation implicated him in systemic failures within the department and after he publicly accused the federal watchdog of corruption, without evidence, the Guardian reported last October.
