The $5,000 that one of DeNova Homes’ founders allegedly stuffed inside a blood-orange coffee mug and handed to an Antioch City Council member was not a bribe, but a “legitimate” campaign contribution, the developer’s attorneys have argued in new court filings.
That is the claim advanced by David Sanson and his son, Trent Sanson, as the longtime Concord-based homebuilding duo prepare to ask a federal judge Thursday to dismiss their bribery and conspiracy charges. The filings mark their first formal response since they were indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2025, nearly a year after authorities allege David Sanson attempted to buy the council member’s help on a stalled housing project.
Together, the two developers say they were targeted by an “overzealous” federal investigation that sought to “improperly manufacture” criminal charges, in violation of their First Amendment rights.
“The Government not only fails to allege a crime in the Indictment — it attempts to criminalize conduct fundamental to our American system of representative democracy,” David Sanson’s attorneys wrote in their filing…