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Orange County First District Supervisor Andrew Do agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in federal court relating to a scheme involving Viet America Society and the embezzlement of millions in COVID relief funds intended to help the county’s most vulnerable residents during the pandemic. He has agreed to resign from the Board of Supervisors.
United States Attorney Martin Estrada and OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer announced the agreement in a press conference Tuesday morning. It is the first conviction of an Orange County supervisor in 50 years Spitzer said, calling Do the “fox guarding the henhouse.”
Some $9.3 million in federal COVID relief funds were granted to the nonprofit Viet America Society, mostly at the direction of Do from his First District discretionary funds, to provide meals to the county’s elderly and people with disabilities.
Do admitted in his plea agreement that beginning in 2020 he received more than $550,000 in bribes to vote in favor of and direct the millions in COVID-related funds to Viet America Society, where his daughter worked. Do directed and worked with county employees to approve contracts with – and payments to – Viet America Society. Do further said in the agreement he acted corruptly and abused his position of trust as a county supervisor.
Do allocated the funding to Viet America Society without disclosing his daughter, Rhiannon, worked and held leadership roles for the group. Instead of the funding going to meal programs, Spitzer said the money “filled the pockets of insiders, (Do), and loved ones, family members.”
Estrada said Do’s daughter is cooperating with the investigation. Rhiannon Do will enter a diversion agreement, admitting as part of her father’s plea agreement her conduct was criminal and violated federal and state law.
Do’s resignation ends any paycheck or benefits he was receiving from the county as a member of the board and Spitzer said Do has agreed to forfeit any pension accrued since the start of the scheme. He is expected to make his initial appearance in United States District Court in Santa Ana later this month.
“Out of respect for the legal process, no statement is appropriate at this time,” Paul S. Meyer, attorney for Andrew Do, said in a statement. “However, it is appropriate to convey Andrew Do’s sincere apology and deep sadness to his family, to his constituents in District 1 and to his colleagues.”
Supervisor Do has been publicly criticized for not disclosing his daughter’s involvement with the organization, but at the time, the lack of disclosure was not a violation of county policy or state law. New state laws were recently passed that tighten up reporting requirements.
After the Viet America Society missed several deadlines to produce a federally required audit and other requested documentation of its spending, the county filed a civil lawsuit in August accusing the nonprofit and some of its leadership, including Do’s daughter, of embezzling the funds provided for the meals program and a Vietnam War memorial to instead use for personal benefit.
The county alleges the money bought properties and other lavish purchases.
Do is not named in the lawsuit.
A week later, county and federal authorities raided a home Do owns in Tustin with his wife, as well as the homes of his daughter and other Viet America Society leaders.
Federal authorities have frozen the accounts of Viet America Society and some of its officers, and on Friday, Oct.18, a court ordered the same during the duration of the county’s civil lawsuit.
The county’s lawsuit alleged six properties in Buena Park, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Tustin were purchased between August 2021 and May 2024 with the COVID-relief funds. One home was purchased by third-year law student Rhiannon Do, according to real estate documents, for $1.03 million in July 2023.
Workers were recently seen moving furniture from that house into moving vans.
“Instead of serving as an example of what the American Dream can achieve, Andrew Do dragged his family and associates into an American nightmare,” Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley said in a statement. “I am disgusted by the staggering level of corruption, greed, and deception described in the federal indictments.
“Our tax dollars are not monopoly money for powerful elected officials to use to enrich themselves and blatantly defraud our government,” she said. “Andrew Do and his enablers must pay the price for their crimes against the people of Orange County.”
A one-time Orange County deputy district attorney, Do won a special election in early 2015 to the Board of Supervisors and then his first full term in 2016.
As a child, Do fled Vietnam during the Fall of Saigon. His supervisor district includes Little Saigon.
After law school, Do taught at Cal State Fullerton and then served as a judge pro tem in Orange County West Municipal Court.
He previously served on the Garden Grove City Council.
In 2022, the California Fair Political Practices Commission fined Do $12,000 for a pay-to-play scheme involving two local lobbyists and for failing to report some contributions toward a statute at Mile Square Park.
Years earlier, the state Legislature passed a bill blocking Do’s ability to reconfigure the board of CalOptima, the $3.4 billion county health program, after he was denied the chairmanship.
Sean Emery contributed to this report.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
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