FBI raids and a recycling firm: how a promising US mayor wound up at the center of a bribery scandal

As Oakland residents watch ex-mayor Sheng Thao stand trial, the scandal has come to symbolise wider frustrations

Two years ago, residents of Oakland, California, woke up to a shocking scene: their mayor’s home was being raided by the FBI. Agents were seen carrying dozens of boxes from the hilltop home of Sheng Thao, the city’s 38-year-old leader, as part of an investigation constituents would later learn alleged her participation in a pay-to-play scheme with the city’s recycling contractor.

It was a stunning moment for Thao, who was elected to lead the Bay Area city in 2022 and was once seen as a promising young mayor in a city that has long grappled with economic inequality and a reputation for violent crime. Her story of growing up in a refugee family and overcoming domestic violence and homelessness to become the first person of Hmong descent to run a major US city resonated with readers confronting questions about equity and representation that came to the fore during the Covid19 pandemic, and made her the subject of glowing media profiles.