San Leandro city council member targeted by Department of Justice in Sheng Thao investigation

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (KGO) -- There's a new target in the federal case against former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, her partner, and the owners of California Waste Solutions.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has outlined criminal charges against San Leandro City Council member Bryan Azevedo, in a letter obtained by the ABC7 I-Team. Dan Noyes had an in-depth interview with that council member about the accusations two months ago.

This is all part of the FBI investigation into former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and others.

Now, the San Leandro city council member is facing charges of conspiracy, bribery, and lying to federal investigators.

When I interviewed San Leandro Council Member Bryan Azevedo two months ago, he described the FBI raid at his home in January.

EXCLUSIVE: San Leandro councilmember describes FBI raid at his home, worries about possible arrest

BRYAN AZEVEDO: "My house was trashed; the garage was trashed."

DAN NOYES: "What did they take?"

BRYAN AZEVEDO: "They took cell phones, laptops and iPads."

Azevedo told me he was waiting to see if he'll be arrested, and he had a time frame. He counted the days between the FBI raid at former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao's house and when she was indicted on corruption charges.

RELATED: FBI raids home of San Leandro councilmember

BRYAN AZEVEDO: "So about 210 days and they shouldn't have as much stuff on me. This, I mean, because I didn't do nothing, so--."

DAN NOYES: "You're counting the days."

BRYAN AZEVEDO: "Yeah."

DAN NOYES: "You are actually, huh?"

BRYAN AZEVEDO: "Yeah, 'cause I don't know what's going on.'"

TIMELINE: FBI political corruption investigation involving Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, Duong family

With this letter obtained by the I-Team, Azevedo now knows what's going on. The United States Attorney informed Azevedo on May 12, he is "now the target of a federal investigation regarding criminal violations" including:

For some perspective, I shared the letter with Wilson Leung who served as a federal prosecutor for 15 years. He said, "I think the office's merely trying to get the attention of the recipient, sort of a shot across the bow."

The DOJ gave Azevedo until May 30 to find a lawyer and contact the office or "the matter will proceed in the ordinary course of prosecution."

"This could go either way," Leung said. "Obviously, the U.S. Attorney's Office feels like there are viable charges here, and they want to attract the attention of the recipient to resolve this case somehow, either with some sort of guilty plea or some sort of guilty plea and cooperation."

MORE: US attorney's office seeks Duong family records from city of San Leandro in Sheng Thao case: report

The I-Team has learned that the charges involve Evolutionary Homes, a company founded by David and Andy Duong of California Waste Solutions. They tried to sell shipping containers converted to housing for the homeless to local governments for $300-thousand each. The Duongs are accused of giving kickbacks to Sheng Thao and her partner, in a plan for the city of Oakland to purchase the units. I asked Bryan Azevedo if he was also involved.

DAN NOYES: "Was there some arrangement between you and the Duongs in terms of 'we'll give you a percentage if you sell X number of units'?"

BRYAN AZEVEDO: "I don't remember nothing, no."

DAN NOYES: "For you to say, 'I don't remember,' it's not going to look good for people. I mean, clearly-"

BRYAN AZEVEDO: "I don't want to comment on that because no, there was no arrangement on that."

The I-Team texted and called Bryan Azevedo on his cellphone, and have not been able to reach him. A member of the San Leandro City Council tells us, Azevedo has not been himself lately, that he is acting very reserved and he is rarely seen in public.