ANTIOCH — The Bay Area’s latest public corruption scandal, revealed by prosecutors this week, involved two prominent homebuilders, an Antioch city councilperson whose vote they allegedly tried to buy and a political fixer apparently working for both sides. They are not named in the indictment, but all indications suggest the councilmember who went to the FBI was Mike Barbanica and the political consultant was Mary Jo Rossi, whose home was raided by the FBI last month. Neither Barbanica or Rossi were accused of any crimes in the indictment unsealed Tuesday charging David and Trent Sanson — the father-son executive team of DeNova Homes — with two counts of bribery. But Rossi’s prolific career as a Contra Costa politico with a no-holds-barred approach to campaigning ties her to both Barbanica and the Sanson family. She worked furiously throughout 2024 — during the timeframe outlined in the indictment — for the supporters of Barbanica’s failed bid to win a seat on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, and has served as a consultant to DeNova Homes. Rossi has not responded to multiple requests for comment since the FBI raid of her Concord home on March 20, just weeks before federal prosecutors filed charges that could land David and Trent Sanson in prison for up to 10 years if convicted. On Wednesday, Barbanica — for the second day in a row — refused to confirm or deny whether he was the councilmember who reported the alleged attempted bribe to the feds, saying over and over that “I don’t want to say anything that’s going to interfere or harm a federal investigation.” The indictments mark the latest corruption scandal to hit the East Bay, arriving just months after federal prosecutors charged former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and three others in another alleged bribery scheme. Federal agents also recently raided the home of San Leandro City Councilman Bryan Azevedo. The alleged bribery scheme in Contra Costa came as the leaders of DeNova Homes groused over lagging construction approvals needed by Antioch’s Engineering and Development Services Division for a massive, 553-unit housing project. City engineers claimed the company had not completed all of the needed public infrastructure improvements needed to release a series of bonds secured for the project’s development, according to the indictment. Federal prosecutors say Trent Sanson reached out to an Antioch city councilmember to intervene — texting that person on May 29, 2024, asking to discuss the project. During a meeting two weeks later, prosecutors say Trent Sanson offered a $10,000 bribe for the councilmember to get the project’s approval on a city council agenda, and to vote in favor of it. At the time, Trent Sanson mentioned that the councilmember was “not going to see anything directly, but Dave will be doing something for you,” according to the indictment. Trent Sanson ultimately settled on flat payment of $5,000 in cash to the councilmember, along with a $5,000 donation to an independent expenditure committee aligned with him, prosecutors say. About a week later, David Sanson met with the councilmember to complete the deal, the indictment says. During that meeting, David Sanson allegedly assured the politician that he’d been in touch with the political consultant running the councilmember’s independent expenditure committee, court records show. “That’s all still on track for round two. We did it during the primary, and now for the general — we’re back committed to supporting you and all that,” David Sanson allegedly told the councilmember, according to the indictment. “So, I just want you to know that’s happening — that it’s not just a false commitment or anything like that; and then Trent told me you needed a little extra shot.” David Sanson then allegedly handed over a blood-orange coffee mug stuffed with $5,000 cash. Unbeknownst to him, the councilman had already gone to the FBI and had been recording the meeting. Details of the meeting align closely with the political activities of Barbanica, a first-term Antioch city councilmember who had previously worked as a lieutenant at the Pittsburg Police Department. With his term nearing an end at the end of 2024, Barbanica scored an early political victory by edging Shanelle Scales-Preston in the primary election to succeed longtime Supervisor Federal Glover, forcing a runoff in the November election. The allegations also hew closely to the work of Rossi, who was working at the time for the well-heeled political committee run by the Contra Costa County Deputy Sheriff’s Association. Rossi was hired by the sheriff’s association’s political committee to do all she could to get Barbanica elected to the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors, said the association’s former president, Shawn Welch, who ran the committee. On Wednesday, Welch said Rossi approached the association and suggested Barbanica as a candidate it should support in the race to fill Glover’s seat. The association agreed — allowing Rossi to take a lead role in setting the committee’s campaign strategy for helping Barbanica win the election, Welch said. He flatly said that he never spoke to anyone from DeNova Homes during the campaign, adding that he was unaware of the allegations in this week’s indictments. Rossi was paid more than $77,000 by the sheriff’s association’s political committee that sought to help Barbanica win the November 2022 election. The indictments come barely five weeks after FBI agents raided Rossi’s home. She is well known throughout the East Bay’s political circles for working closely with DeNova Homes. An attorney for David Sanson called the allegations a “take down” attempt by “a controversial local politico, whose own suspect personal motivations we look forward to exposing.” The attorney, Winston Chan, would not identify the “politico” but added that “we are confident the facts will show that Dave is innocent.” Rossi’s company, Rossi Communications, was paid $15,930 in early November 2022 by a political group called Citizens For Property Rights & Responsible Government, which was sponsored by Denova Homes and “affiliated entities.” The group worked to elect Mike Menesini as the mayor of Martinez, while opposing Lara Delaney, Mark Ross and the eventual winner, Brianne Zorn. Also around that time, Rossi Communications made five payments totaling $9,330 on behalf of the Denova Homes-sponsored group, mostly for postage and printing costs. When it came time to go on the offensive, Sanson was known to trust Rossi’s political prowess, according to several Contra Costa political insiders interviewed Wednesday. “She has always been Dave’s go-to Roy Cohn, if you will,” said Mark Ross, a former Martinez councilman, likening Rossi to the attorney who infamously served as chief counsel for Sen. Joseph McCarthy. “She’s always been his ‘attack’ person.”