Indicted Concord homebuilders say $5,000 stuffed in coffee mug wasn’t bribe

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.

Trent Sanson, of DeNova Homes, briefs the Antioch City Council about the Aviano project at a meeting on March 10, 2020. (Screenshot of Antioch council meeting) 

That is the claim advanced by David Sanson and his son, Trent Sanson...