How much does it take to buy an Antioch City Councilmember?
According to the FBI, the owner and vice president of the DeNova Homes development company estimated that it would take around $15,000, and offered up the cash in discreetly hidden stacks of $100 bills. But prosecutors say that David Sanson and his son, Trent Sanson, badly underestimated who they were dealing with.
Now become the latest father/son duo to be charged with corruption in the Bay Area.
David Sanson, 60, and Trent Sanson, 33, were indicted on charges of conspiracy and paying bribes to the so-far unnamed councilmember, who reported the alleged nefarious activity to the FBI and set up a sting. Prosecutors say they have video of Trent paying the councilmember $10,000 and David showing up with an additional $5,000 concealed in a DeNova Homes blood orange coffee thermos.
The Sansons made their court appearance in Oakland Tuesday morning, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. The indictment against them alleges that the councilmember-turned-FBI-informant recorded both bribes “at the direction of the FBI” and that the defendants expected “favorable treatment” in their already-approved 533-home development plans in Antioch, known as the Aviano project.
The goal was “to get the Antioch Engineering and Development Services Division to affirm completion and release the bonds associated with the project,” the news release says. The meetings allegedly occurred in 2024, starting in late May.
There is no word yet whether the indictment is related to the recent raid on prominent political consultant Mary Jo Rossi, who did campaign consultant work for a committee sponsored by DeNova.
DeNova homes is a prominent developer around Contra Costa, with projects that occasionally drew controversy. One such project in Martinez resulted in competing ballot measures, and a lawsuit filed by a group against DeNova and the city, seeking to stop a development project. It was settled in 2019.
It has been quite a year for corruption prosecutions in the Bay Area. In January, father and son duo David and Andy Duong, owners of California Waste Solutions, were charged with working with a political consultant to bribe Oakland’s recently recalled mayor, Sheng Thao. The indictment charged both Andy and David, Thao, and Thao’s longtime significant other, Andre Jones.
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