A California official was removed from committees and regional board positions following allegations that he helped his daughter’s non-profit organization embezzle over $13 million in pandemic funds.
Republican Andrew Do, an Orange County Board of Supervisors member and leader in the Vietnamese community, represents the county’s 1st District. The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to strip him of his positions Tuesday. He faces a vote of censure by the board on Sept. 24.
“He has completely eroded public trust,” Katrina Foley, who is one of Do’s colleagues on the board, told the Washington Post. “We cannot have him representing us on behalf of our board.”
Last month, the county sued the embattled county supervisor’s daughter, Rhiannon Do, and the non-profit organization she helped lead after LAist reported it was mired in corruption. A trail of emails, public record requests, and interviews indicated that Rhiannon Do’s Viet America Society diverted millions in funding for personal purposes that were intended to help vulnerable communities in the county.
“Viet America Society, and its officers and associates, brazenly plundered these funds for their own personal gain,” the lawsuit reads. “[They] saw the opportunity, and conspired to embezzle pandemic relief funds by executing contracts that they never intended to perform, instead using the funding streams as their own personal banking accounts.”
The saga began in 2020 when Orange County received millions from the 2020 Cares Act and the 2021 American Rescue Plan to help it recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced with the task of distributing the funds across the community, members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors began to determine which organizations and projects warranted additional financing across their respective districts.
Andrew Do moved to dole out a significant portion of the allocated funding for his district to VAS, entering into multiple contracts with the non-profit organization over the next few years. VAS was supposed to serve as a conduit to distribute meals to seniors and residents with disabilities struggling from the pandemic.
But instead of helping Vietnamese Americans in poverty and other vulnerable members in the county, Andrew Do and VAS reportedly funneled a bulk of the funding to buy high-dollar properties and finance luxury lifestyles.
The county presented in its lawsuit against the Vietnamese organization allegations that Rhiannon Do used the funds to buy a million-dollar residence last year. Peter Pham, who served as president of VAS, and is a friend of Andrew Do, has also come under scrutiny for property he bought, according to the New York Times.
His lawyer, who represents the non-profit organization, pushed back against suggestions that the organization had acted improperly in comments to the outlet.
“My clients did not take a vow of poverty,” Mark Rosen argued.
VAS is also being investigated for, among other matters, failing to complete a million-dollar contract to construct a Vietnam War memorial in the county, which boasts one of the largest Vietnamese-American populations in the country.
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VietRISE and the Harbor Institute for Immigrant & Economic Justice, both non-profit organizations that assist immigrant communities in Orange County, called on Andrew Do to resign in August.
“Supervisor Do used his position to divert taxpayer dollars toward million-dollar properties for his own family and friends,” the groups wrote in a statement.
