O.C. supervisor accepted bribes, will plead guilty, feds say

Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do speaks and points during a meeting.

Oct. 22, 2024 Updated 3:47 PM PT

Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do has agreed to resign and plead guilty to accepting more than $550,000 in bribes to direct millions of dollars to a family-connected nonprofit, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

At one point a rising and influential figure in Orange County politics, Do, 62, had been under scrutiny for months since the Board of Supervisors learned he had voted to approve millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds to a nonprofit without disclosing it was connected to his daughter.

“This money was intended to provide meals to the people who needed most in our community,” said U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada during a news conference at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana on Tuesday. “The scheme essentially functioned like Robin Hood in reverse.”

Instead, federal investigators said, Do funneled some of that money to his family to enrich himself and buy them homes in the county.

Do agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.

Do has been absent from Board of Supervisors meetings for months, and in an August interview on a Vietnamese-language radio station, he called the allegations against him and his family slander. But in a short statement issued by his attorney Tuesday, Do apologized for his actions.

“Out of respect for the legal process, no statement is appropriate at this time,” Do’s attorney, Paul S. Meyer, 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 One and to his colleagues.”

One of Do’s colleagues on the board, Vicente Sarmiento, said that although he was not surprised to learn Do had been indicted, he was glad to hear Do had agreed to plead guilty and step down.

Although Do had just a few months left in his post, the decision could help the county move forward, Sarmiento said. But, he added, there still needs to be a closer examination of Do’s actions as a board member.

“I don’t want this to end here,” Sarmiento said. “I am certainly pleased there was rapid prosecution on this, but I do want to make sure, and I implore both our local district attorney and the U.S. attorney, to continue looking at others that may have facilitated this.”

Sarmiento said the county had already directed staff to review other vendors and contracts that were being used during the pandemic.

Tuesday’s announcement was the culmination of a scandal that first shocked Orange County supervisors last year when LAist reported that Do approved as much as $13.5 million to Viet America Society without disclosing that his daughter was connected to the group.

In the months that followed, the county demanded Viet America Society return the money after it launched an audit to look into the nonprofit and learned the group could not prove that it had done the work it had been contracted to do: provide meals to the elderly and needy during the pandemic. The county filed a lawsuit in August against the nonprofit and censured Do in September. Last week, Do’s chief of staff resigned after it was reported the man’s girlfriend had worked for a nonprofit that received a lucrative county contract.

According to the indictment filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Do solicited the bribes in exchange for voting in favor for contracts that would provide federal and state COVID relief funds to co-conspirators.

After Do voted for the contracts, including to Viet America Society, the nonprofit gave Do’s daughter Rhiannon a job, according to the federal indictment.

Records show Rhiannon Do at one point signed documents that identified her as its president.

The organization allegedly disguised its bribes as employment payments to Rhiannon Do.

According to authorities, at one point the nonprofit was paying $100,000 a month to a company listed only as “Company #1” in court documents. After Rhiannon Do joined the nonprofit, its payments to Company #1 increased by $8,000. That company then turned around and paid that money to her, authorities said.

In July 2023, that company transferred a total of $381,500 — money it received from Viet America Society — to an escrow company to close on a home in Tustin for Rhiannon Do, officials said.

Andrew Do is also accused of using his office to steer money toward his second daughter, who received $100,000 from an air conditioning company paid by Viet America Society, including two checks of $25,000 each in September and October 2022.

So far, government officials have seized more than $2.4 million as part of the case, federal officials said.

The allegations raised against Do, and the indictment, have shaken Orange County politics.

Orange County Supervisor Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Doug Chaffee said Do pleading guilty was the right thing to do but also a “deeply unfortunate moment” that harmed the county in a way that “will be felt for some time.”

“It is disappointing that someone entrusted with such responsibility would engage in conduct that damages the integrity of the office,” Chaffee said in a statement.

County Supervisor Katrina Foley said Do and those involved in the scheme had to be held accountable.

“I am disgusted by the staggering level of corruption, greed, and deception described in the federal indictments,” Foley said in a statement. “Instead of serving as an example of what the American Dream can achieve, Andrew Do dragged his family and associates into an American Nightmare.”

After the indictment was announced, VietRise, a group of nonprofit organizations that provide services to immigrant communities in Orange County’s Little Saigon, applauded the news.

“Do represents the worst of our elected officials: corrupt, greedy and using his political position to enrich himself off the suffering of the most vulnerable in our community,” the group said in a statement. “While seniors lost their lives to the pandemic or spent months worrying about their next meal, Do exploited this crisis.”

“While millions of Americans were dying from COVID-19, Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do was the fox in the henhouse personified” Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer, whose office worked with federal investigators in the case, said in a statement. “No one is above the law in Orange County, and these charges should serve as a powerful warning to elected officials everywhere that actions have consequences and justice will be swift and it will be decisive.”

As part of Do’s plea agreement with federal officials, Rhiannon Do will also enter in a diversion agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office.

Rhiannon Do was facing a charge of making a false statement in a loan application, according to court filings. As part of the agreement, prosecution of the charge is deferred, and she agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors on the investigation and remain under supervision for three years.

Both she and her father have agreed to forfeit any assets or funds they gained from Do’s scheme, including the Tustin home.

Do faces a possible sentence of up to five years in federal prison.

Board of Supervisors Chairman, Don Wagner, will handle Do’s duties until a new supervisor is elected.

“I’m very disappointed and, I will say, angry that one of my colleagues would abuse the public trust like this,” he said. “I’m glad that he’s resigned.”

Orange County supervisor accepted over $550,000 in bribes, will plead guilty to conspiracy charge, feds say

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