OC is suing the nonprofit, which it says “eagerly swore off” millions in public money funneled to it by Supervisor Andrew Do

Orange County officials on Thursday sued a nonprofit at the center of an LAist investigation into millions of dollars in taxes that have gone unaccounted for years now, despite federal and county audit requirements.

The county’s lawsuit names the nonprofit Viet America Society, its key officers and associated businesses and demands the return of millions in public funds. The lawsuit alleges county money was illegally used to purchase five homes and converted to cash through ATM transactions. Rhiannon Do, the 23-year-old daughter of OC Supervisor Andrew Do, is among the parties named by the county.

“Viet America Society (VAS) and its officers and associates, eagerly plundered these funds for their own personal gain,” the lawsuit states. “(They) saw the opportunity and conspired to divert pandemic relief funds by executing contracts they never intended to execute, instead using the funding streams as their own personal bank accounts.”

The lawsuit claims damages to the county are “in no event less than $10.4 million.”

About the charges

It also alleges that “multiple co-conspirators” formed VAS in June 2020 to solicit county contracts for their private and personal benefit and failed to complete a Vietnam War memorial, a process described as a blatant, flagrant violation and bad faith of the obligation. .

The lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court lists more than a dozen allegations that include breach of contract, unfair trade practices and filing false claims.

The lawsuit — which County Counsel Leon J. Page had threatened last week — comes after the nonprofit group missed several deadlines to account for millions of taxpayer dollars directed by Supervisor Andrew Do, most of which were intended to provide meals for seniors during the pandemic.

Rhiannon Do is named in the suit alongside Peter Ahn Pham, Dinh Mai and Thu Thao Thi Vu.

Public records showed she was listed as a lead at VAS while her father directed more than $13 million to the group. Rhiannon Do and a former VAS attorney previously told LAist that she did not hold those positions. But they did not explain why he appeared on at least nine public documents, including tax forms, as a VAS officer.

LAist was the first to report this family connection and discovered the millions in taxpayer money awarded by Supervisor Do, largely out of public view.

Other supervisors react

Supervisor Donald Wagner said in a statement that the county does not take this action lightly and comes after all previous attempts have failed.

“We have seen lawyers and accountants change rather than honoring contracts,” Wagner said in a statement. “We have now learned of the other financial irregularities detailed in the complaint, which require prompt legal action. We will not let him endure the abuses highlighted in the complaint. The taxpayers of Orange County deserve their money back.”

“These allegations show blatant deception and greed on the part of individuals motivated solely to enrich themselves,” Supervisor Katrina Foley said in a statement. She went on to say that the lawsuit “highlights the ongoing abuse of taxpayer funds to enrich well-connected insiders instead of feeding vulnerable seniors. in the Vietnamese community or honoring our Vietnam War veterans.”

Supervisor Doug Chaffee said in a statement that he was “disturbed and outraged by the recent revelations.” He said the alleged misuse of funds was “not just a failure of management but a betrayal of the public trust”.

The details

A home purchased by Rhiannon Do in Tustin is among the properties cited in the lawsuit for embezzlement of county funds.

The lawsuit specifically cites a Tustin home purchased by Rhiannon Do.

The lawsuit alleges that Aloha Financial Investment helped finance the purchase of Rhiannon Do’s home. Thu Thao Thi Vu, identified in county contracts as Aloha’s president, is also named in the Orange County lawsuit. Financial records obtained by LAist through a public records request show that most of the county funds sent to VAS in 2021 and 2022 went to a Westminster restaurant, Perfume River. In county inspection reports, Perfume River’s owner is listed as Aloha Financial Investment. VAS disclosed those payments to the county in general ledgers.

Demand letters sent in late July by county officials said food service payments to Perfume River were “questionable.” The letters also said VAS refused to explain the payments.

Shoppers pass by Perfume River Restaurant & Lounge inside The Asian Garden Mall, also known as Phước Lộc Thọ in Westminster.

In early April, LAist asked Rhiannon Do about how she afforded her $1 million home as a full-time UC Irvine law student and part-time VAS employee. The mortgage on the home was $621,000, according to mortgage documents filed in a county deed.

Rhiannon Do did not respond to questions about where the down payment came from. But in her two emailed responses, she said she worked hard for the house, citing her work at a summer internship and her work at VAS. She also again denied serving in senior roles at VAS.

“As I have previously stated, I have never been an officer or director for VAS. I have worked for the past 3 years to help them support a mental health clinic, which was the first of its kind for the Vietnamese American community in Orange County,” she said. “Moreover, I was hired to work on a proposal for the Program of Nutrition for the Elderly, a food service program for the elderly that had nothing to do with COVID and any COVID funding. I had also worked at a law firm last summer. I worked hard to buy my house.”

Records obtained by LAist from the county showed her monthly income from VAS was $4,600.

Additionally, VAS founder Peter Pham is accused in the lawsuit of using county funds to pay for repairs and improvements to his Buena Park home.

Note: We reached out to the Do Supervisor for comment and did not immediately hear back. Supervisor Do has previously denied any wrongdoing in interviews with other media outlets and claimed LAist’s reporting was inaccurate. He never asked for a retraction or a correction. Mark Rosen, an attorney for VAS, said he needed time to read the lawsuit. We are also reaching out to other named defendants and will have more on this developing story.

How I got here

In an Aug. 12 letter, Mark Rosen, an attorney representing VAS, wrote to an OC official that “the request that VAS reimburse the county for every cent paid is ill-advised, over-the-top and, frankly, outrageous.”

According to Rosen, every contracted meal has been paid for and delivered. He added that the county paid VAS monthly without any request for reports until recently, and the contracts were renewed for several years without any challenge to the documents.

“Any flaws in the reporting were technical failures caused by the unique circumstances of the COVID pandemic,” Rosen wrote. The first of the contracts directed by Supervisor Do to VAS was until the end of 2020, around the time the first vaccines were available and almost a year into the pandemic.

Two Orange County supervisors, Katrina Foley and Vincente Sarmiento, on Wednesday asked the county district attorney’s office, the state of California and the U.S. Department of the Treasury to investigate the use of state and federal funds allocated to VSA and Helping Hands. , another nonprofit watchdog Do that has directed money during the pandemic, on Wednesday.

Sarmiento said in a statement that he is working with OC leaders to support a pair of bills moving through Sacramento — Senate Bill 1111 and Bill 3130 — as legislative solutions addressing conflicts of interest and increased transparency.

What’s next

A case management conference has been scheduled for Jan. 28, 2025, according to court documents.

Catch up on the investigation

In November 2023, LAist began investigating how millions of public taxpayer dollars were spent. In all, LAist found that more than $13 million in public money was approved by a little-known nonprofit, which records that the state was also run out of Rhiannon Do, the now 23-year-old daughter of OC Supervisor Andrew Do. Most of this money was directed to the group by Supervisor Do out of public view and never appeared on the agenda of public meetings. He has not publicly disclosed his family connections.

Much of the known funding came from federal coronavirus relief money.

• Read the story that sparked the investigation here.
• Since we began reporting, we also discovered that the group was two years late in completing an audit needed to determine whether the meal funds were spent properly.
• And we found that the amount of taxpayer money going to the nonprofit was much higher than originally known. It totals at least $13.5 million in county funding — calculated from government records obtained and published by LAist.
• After our reporting, OC officials wrote demand letters to the nonprofit, saying millions in funds were unaccounted for. They warned that he could be forced to repay the funds.
• And we found the nonprofit missed a deadline set by county officials to provide evidence of how the meal funding was spent.
• On August 2nd, LAist reported that OC officials demanded the repayment of more than $3 million in public funds awarded by Do to VAS and another nonprofit, Hand to Hand.
• Six days later, LAist reported that Orange County officials expanded demands for millions of tax dollars in refunds from the nonprofits and threatened legal action.

How to oversee local government

One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is to pay attention.

The city council, board of supervisors, school board and more hold public meetings that anyone can attend. These are times when you can speak directly to your constituents and hear about the policies they are voting on that affect your community.