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

David Duong is a prominent businessman who owns the recycling company California Waste Solutions (CWS). The Guardian reported that CWS is under investigation for campaign contributions to Sheng Thao and other Oakland city officials.

Ms. Sheng Thao, 38 years old, took office as mayor of Oakland from January 2023.

The Oakland Side newspaper reported that Mr. David Duong's family has many political connections in Oakland and has been investigated for allegedly illegally transferring money to politicians in previous elections.

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

David Duong is known as a prominent member of the Vietnamese American community in the San Francisco Bay Area. He founded the recycling company California Waste Solutions in 1992.

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Mr. David Duong is often called by many people as the "garbage billionaire". Photo: Oakland Side

According to the company’s website, Mr. Duong’s family once owned a paper mill in Vietnam. He left Vietnam in 1979 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, garbage disposal was the livelihood of Mr. David Duong’s family when they came to San Francisco. Later, this was the field that made him and his family famous not only in the Vietnamese community in the US, but also in the garbage disposal industry in the land of the flag.

California Waste Solutions is Oakland’s official recycling collector. Its workers collect recyclables from homes and businesses every day. CWS also provides services to the city of San Jose, and the Duong family operates a waste treatment facility in Vietnam.

According to Oakland Side, in 2014, Mr. Duong's family's California Waste Solutions unexpectedly surpassed the large corporation Waste Management when it won a multi-billion dollar contract to operate the city of Oakland's garbage and recycling collection services.

However, the city later split the garbage collection with Waste Management and let California Waste Solutions handle the recycling. Many people were concerned that giving the entire job to the Duong family's company was a risk for Oakland because CWS was not a large and experienced company.

Winning large contracts is also the reason why Mr. David Duong is often called the "garbage billionaire" by many people.

In 2017, the city of Oakland sued California Waste Solutions for allegedly overcharging several multi-unit apartment building owners and making millions of dollars in extra profit. CWS then filed a countersuit against the city. In 2021, CWS agreed to refund more than $6 million to homeowners and reduce its service fees.

In Vietnam, Mr. 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) came into operation and received and treated waste for Ho Chi Minh City, with a capacity of more than 5,000 tons of waste/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/day, worth about 10,000 billion VND right at the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex. The project can produce more than 46MW of electricity to connect to the national grid. In addition, there is a waste treatment project for the Southern key economic region located in Long An.

Little-known facts about 'trash king' David Duong In the Vietnamese-American political community, David Duong and his younger brother Victor Duong are considered the most influential people.