A public court filing reviewed by LAist says a federal grand jury has been investigating the nonprofit at the center of swirling questions about what happened to millions in federal tax dollars O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do gave the group that were meant to feed needy seniors.
The document — filed by an attorney defending the nonprofit and its leaders in a civil fraud lawsuit — sheds new light on an ongoing, highly secretive criminal investigation that briefly burst into public view on Aug. 22, when FBI and IRS agents searched homes owned by Supervisor Do and his wife Cheri Pham, who is the assistant presiding judge of O.C. Superior Court; their daughter Rhiannon Do and other leaders of the nonprofit Viet America Society (VAS).
Spokespeople for the federal agencies have repeatedly declined to say what they’ve been investigating.
The searches took place one week after county officials filed a civil lawsuit alleging Rhiannon Do and other leaders at VAS conspired in a fraud scheme to divert taxpayer dollars — meant to help people during the pandemic — to buy themselves homes and fund home renovations. The lawsuit was filed in Orange County Superior Court, but the presiding judge then transferred it to San Diego. The defendants have disputed any wrongdoing in court filings.
Details on the federal probe are included in the filings made on behalf of defendants in the civil case, in support of their request for the court to pause the lawsuit until criminal investigations are finished.
“The United States Attorney's office in Santa Ana has convened a grand jury that is taking testimony. Subpoenas have been issued, including to VAS, [its founder] Peter Pham, and [its CFO] Dinh Mai,” wrote Mark Rosen, the attorney representing Rhiannon Do and the other VAS leaders in the civil lawsuit, in a filing this month.
All of the defendants in the state civil case — who include Rhiannon Do — face “the threat of criminal prosecution,” Rosen wrote. Because of that threat, Rosen wrote, “each of the individual defendants in this case have obtained criminal attorneys and are exercising their Fifth Amendment privilege.”
The Fifth Amendment protects people from being forced to provide testimony that could be used to prosecute them.
The FBI and IRS also froze the bank accounts of Viet America Society, Pham, Mai, and a company they’re both closely tied to, according to Rosen’s filing. That company is Aloha Financial Investment, which has close ties to VAS leaders. The company owns a Westminster restaurant — Perfume River — which received millions of county dollars through VAS that were supposed to feed seniors during the pandemic. VAS and Aloha have not provided details of how the money that went to Perfume River was spent, despite repeated demands by the county and requests from LAist for an accounting of the taxpayer funds.
“A raid, a freeze of bank accounts, and a grand jury are serious business,” Rosen wrote.
How a federal grand jury works
Federal grand juries meet in secret to hear evidence and decide whether there is enough evidence to criminally charge someone. If they decide there is, they file criminal charges through an indictment. An indictment can quickly become public, or kept secret for a while if a judge places it under seal.
Federal grand jurors are summoned and selected by a federal court at random from lists of registered voters and state driver’s license and ID holders.
Feds have been tight-lipped
Federal authorities have said the search warrants they executed on Aug. 22 have been sealed by a court, and that they can’t reveal anything about the investigation besides confirming where they conducted searches.
The federal searches and the county’s civil lawsuit came after months of investigative articles by LAist that reported that Supervisor Do awarded millions of tax dollars, outside public view, to his daughter’s group and that the group failed to account for what it did with the money as required by the county contracts and federal law. In its August civil lawsuit, the county alleged that much of that money was “brazenly plundered” for the personal benefit of the named defendants and other unnamed defendants. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the prosecutor’s office had no comment for this article.
Paul Meyer and Dave Weichert, criminal defense attorneys respectively for Supervisor Do and Rhiannon Do, have denied their clients engaged in wrongdoing while declining to comment in detail, citing an ongoing investigation.
Where things stand in the civil fraud lawsuit
The county has asked a judge to put a freeze on the defendants’ assets until the lawsuit is resolved in order to block them from transferring money or property that is related to the taxpayer money at issue in the county’s lawsuit. Rosen’s filing opposes that request.
A hearing on the request is scheduled for Friday in San Diego County Superior Court, where the lawsuit was transferred from Orange County. Rhiannon Do’s mother — and Supervisor Do’s wife — is Cheri Pham, the assistant presiding judge of Orange County Superior Court.
Rosen also has requested the civil lawsuit to be put on hold until criminal investigations have concluded.
Nonprofit’s attorney says county kept giving VAS funds
In his filing this month, Rosen noted that the county continued to give money to VAS after not receiving required records detailing what the funds were used for.
“If there were any record keeping flaws, they occurred with the county's blessing,” Rosen wrote.
“The contracts with VAS were renewed for several years without any challenge to the adequacy of the paperwork.”
A county spokesperson declined to comment Thursday on Rosen’s assertion.
A February 2022 email, obtained by LAist through a public records request, shows a county executive notified Supervisor Do’s chief of staff that VAS had failed to follow contract requirements to disclose how many meals it was providing.
That same month, top-level executives at multiple county departments were notified that VAS was led by Supervisor Do’s daughter, Rhiannon Do, according to another email chain LAist obtained through a records request. After those internal notifications, Supervisor Do awarded another $8.4 million in county funding directly to VAS in 2022 and 2023.
Supervisor Do had not disclosed the family connection, which was not required under state law. Since LAist began reporting on how the public money was allocated, three state laws have been signed into law to tighten ethical requirements going forward. The authors of all three laws cited LAist reporting as an inspiration for their legislation.
Catch up on the investigation
In November 2023, LAist began investigating how millions in public taxpayer dollars were spent. In total, LAist has uncovered public records showing more than $13 million in public money that was approved to a little-known nonprofit that records state was led on and off by Rhiannon Do. Most of that money was directed to the group by Supervisor Do outside of the public’s view and never appeared on public meeting agendas. He did not publicly disclose his family ties.
Much of the known funding came from federal coronavirus relief money.
- Read the story that launched the investigation: Top OC official helped direct millions to his daughter’s center without disclosing family connection
- Since LAist started reporting, we’ve also uncovered the group was two years overdue in completing a required audit into whether the meal funds were spent appropriately.
- And LAist found the amount of taxpayer money directed to the nonprofit was much larger than initially known. It totals at least $13.5 million in county funding — tallied from government records obtained and published by LAist.
- After our reporting, O.C. officials wrote demand letters to the nonprofit saying millions in funding were unaccounted for. They warned the nonprofit that it could be forced to repay the funds.
- And, LAist found the nonprofit missed a deadline set by county officials to provide proof about how funding for meals were spent.
- On Aug. 2, LAist reported O.C. officials were demanding the refund of more than $3 million in public funds awarded by Do to VAS and another nonprofit, Hand to Hand.
- Six days later, LAist reported Orange County officials had expanded demands for refunds of millions in tax dollars from the nonprofits and threatened legal action.
- On Aug. 15, LAist reported O.C. officials sued VAS and its key officers and associated businesses, including Rhiannon Do. The lawsuit alleges that county money was illegally used to purchase five homes and was converted into cash through ATM transactions.
- Then, on Aug. 19, LAist reported O.C. officials had announced a second lawsuit against Hand to Hand and its CEO to recover millions of taxpayer dollars that were directed by Supervisor Do.
- LAist broke the news on Aug. 22 that federal agents were searching Rhiannon Do's home in Tustin. Later that day, Supervisor Do's home, and other properties, were also raided.
- On Oct. 16, LAist reported that the wife of Supervisor Do's top aide was hired for a $275,000 contract. County officials say the work was never turned in.
How to watchdog local government
One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention.
Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.
- Read tips on how to get involved.
- The next scheduled board meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 22. You can check out the O.C. Board of Supervisors full calendar here.
- Learn how to submit a public comment to the O.C. Board of Supervisors.
