Former San Leandro City Council Member Bryan Azevedo pleads guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, accepting bribes and lying to federal investigators

 

The U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California just issued a press release about former San Leandro City Council Member Bryan Azevedo pleading guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, accepting bribes and lying to federal investigators.

"Former San Leandro City Council Member Bryan Azevedo pleaded guilty in federal court today to engaging in a conspiracy to accept bribes in exchange for using his official position to obtain favorable treatment and city contracts for a housing company, and to lying to federal investigators.

Former San Leandro City Council Member Bryan Azevedo pleaded guilty in federal court today to engaging in a conspiracy to accept bribes in exchange for using his official position to obtain favorable treatment and city contracts for a housing company, and to lying to federal investigators.

Azevedo, 49, of San Leandro, Calif., was charged by information on Oct. 20, 2025, with one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and one count of making a false statement to federal investigators.  He pleaded guilty to both counts.  

In connection with his plea, Azevedo admitted that in the summer of 2023, he attended a delegation trip to Vietnam sponsored by a business association controlled by the family of an individual identified in the information as Co-Conspirator 1.  The business association paid all of Azevedo’s expenses for that trip, including business class airfare, hotel, and meals for approximately 10 days.

After the Vietnam trip, Azevedo agreed with Co-Conspirator 1 and an individual identified as Co-Conspirator 2 that Azevedo would use his official position to advocate on behalf of their modular housing company with other members of San Leandro City government, to take city council votes that would benefit their modular housing company, and to ensure that the City of San Leandro purchased housing units from the modular housing company. In exchange, Co-Conspirator 1 and Co-Conspirator 2 agreed that Azevedo would receive a percentage of the sales price from all modular housing company units the City of San Leandro ultimately purchased.  

To help conceal the expected future payments, Co-Conspirator 1 and Co-Conspirator 2 instructed Azevedo to open an LLC and bank account in his wife’s name for the purpose of receiving the kickback payments and avoiding detection.  Co-Conspirator 1 indicated that he had concealed payments in this way with other politicians.  While San Leandro never purchased housing units from the modular housing company, Co-Conspirator 1 paid Azevedo $2,000 in cash to fund the bank account set up in Azevedo’s wife’s name.

Azevedo admitted that he took several steps in his official capacity to benefit the modular housing company between August 2023 and June 2024 in exchange for the payment received and the promise of future payments.  Specifically, during a city council meeting on June 17, 2024, Azevedo voted in favor of an emergency shelter ordinance, as instructed by Co-Conspirator 1.  In addition, Azevedo advocated for the emergency shelter ordinance with members of San Leandro City government, took members of San Leandro City government to tour model units, and advocated for the purchase of the modular housing company’s units by the City of San Leandro.

In January 2025, federal agents executed a search warrant at Azevedo’s residence in San Leandro, during which Azevedo sat for a voluntary interview.  During that interview, Azevedo falsely told agents that Co-Conspirator 1 never provided him with cash and said that Co-Conspirator 1’s family did not have any business interests before the City of San Leandro.  

United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Oakland Field Office Special Agent in Charge Linda Nguyen, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) San Francisco Division Inspector in Charge Stephen M. Sherwood made the announcement.

Azevedo is next scheduled to appear in district court on December 3, 2026, for a status hearing before District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.  

Azevedo faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the honest services fraud count and a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the false statement count.  Any sentence will be imposed by the court after consideration of the United States Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Assistant United States Attorneys Abraham Fine, Molly Priedeman, and Lloyd Farnham are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Kevin Costello and Amala James.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI, IRS-CI, and USPIS. "