According to The Guardian, the searches took place on the morning of June 20 (local time), conducted by agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) "under the authority of the court."

David Duong is a prominent businessman who owns California Waste Solutions (CWS). The Guardian reported that CWS is being investigated for campaign contributions to Ms. Sheng Thao and other Oakland city officials.

Ms. Sheng Thao, 38, assumed office as Oakland mayor in January 2023.

The Oakland Side reported that David Duong's family has many political connections in Oakland and has previously been investigated for illegally funneling money to politicians in earlier elections.

According to the Oakland Side, the Duong family controls Oakland's recycling services.

David Duong is a well-known member of the Vietnamese American community in the San Francisco Bay Area. He founded California Waste Solutions in 1992.

The company's website states that Duong's family used to own a paper mill in Vietnam. In 1979, he left Vietnam and settled in San Francisco. In 1983, they founded a small paper recycling company called CoGiDo Recycling and bought a warehouse in West Oakland that same year.

Initially, processing trash was the livelihood for David Duong's family when they arrived in San Francisco. Later, this field made him and his family prominent not only in the Vietnamese community in the US but also in the waste treatment industry.

California Waste Solutions is the official recycling collector of Oakland. Workers collect recyclables from families and businesses daily. CWS also provides services to the city of San Jose, and Duong's family operates a waste treatment facility in Vietnam.

In 2014, California Waste Solutions unexpectedly surpassed the large corporation Waste Management by winning a multi-billion dollar contract to operate Oakland's garbage and recycling collection services. However, the government later divided the garbage collection between Waste Management and CWS, allowing the latter to handle recycling. Many expressed concerns about assigning all the work to the Duong family's company, citing CWS's relatively small size and limited experience.

Winning a large contract earned David Duong the nickname "garbage billionaire."

In 2017, Oakland sued California Waste Solutions for allegedly overcharging some landlords of multi-apartment buildings, making millions of dollars in profits. CWS then countersued the city. By 2021, CWS agreed to refund more than $6 million to homeowners and reduce service fees.

In Vietnam, David Duong invested and established Vietnam Waste Solutions Company Limited (VWS) in 2004. By 2007, the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex Project (Binh Chanh District, HCM City) began operations, receiving and treating waste for Ho Chi Minh City with a capacity of more than 5,000 tons of waste per day.

The Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex may have to close in 2024. However, VWS is investing in a project to convert waste incineration technology to generate electricity with a capacity of 3,000 tons per day, worth about VND 10,000 billion at the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex. The project can produce more than 46 MW of electricity to connect to the national grid.

Additionally, there is a waste treatment project for the Southern key economic region located in Long An.

Manh Ha