Who exactly is on trial aside from Sheng Tao? And what exactly are they being accused of?

There are four defendants, including Tao.

Andre Jones, Tao's long-term partner.

David Duong is the CEO of California Waste Solutions, which is Oakland's curbside recycling provider.

And Andy Duong previously worked for California Waste Solutions and is his son.

They're essentially alleging a pay-to-play scheme.

If you read the indictment, you see that the story that the prosecution is telling about what happened in this alleged scheme is that in the lead up to the 2022 Oakland mayoral election, when Tao was ultimately elected, the four agreed to a bribery scheme.

What kind of evidence has come out so far?

But then where does this $100 million come from?

I think he's referring to evolutionary homes.

Allegedly, the deal was that, you know, Tao would commit the city of Oakland to purchasing these housing units from evolutionary homes.

And so I think he's referencing that.

The prosecution alleges that the deal evolved over time.

So at first they were saying that Andre Jones would receive up to three hundred thousand dollars over time for, you know, this supposed no show job.

And that later, as the defendants continued to meet and discuss this alleged bribery scheme, that that number jumped up to three million dollars.

That's

Yeah.

That's obviously how I first got started.

But, um, I, funny enough, was a fashion designer way before any of this.

And when I was in fashion, I fell in love with video work.

So I actually started doing a lot of work with, like, runway shows, music videos, editorial production, all that kind of stuff.

So that's why I ended up meeting you, Amy, through videography work with UberLube, 'cause I still love doing that with other brands.

But when I was in fashion, I actually pivoted into reproductive rights for a long time after that because, uh, during Trump's first administration, I was like, "Oh my God, this movement needs so much help with content production [laughs] and graphics." Like, I just really saw a place for myself there.

There's no easy way to do it, you know? [laughs]

Tell us about the latest EP.

Yeah, the latest thing that's come out is called Turn This Love Around.

And it's been a long time in the making.

I started working on it when I had a record deal with Monument Sony Records from 2019 to 2025.

And they closed the imprint I was signed to back in 2025.

And we had already been about six months in probably to working on the EP.

And they closed all of a sudden.

How would you say your music has evolved since you started to now?