A former Southern California county supervisor was sentenced on June 9 to five years in federal prison for accepting $550,000 in bribes and steering more than $10 million in COVID-19 relief funds to an organization affiliated with his daughter.
Andrew Hoang Do, 62, who was elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 2015, resigned in October 2024 as part of an agreement to plead guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit bribery.
“Elected officials have a sworn duty to put their constituents’ interests ahead of their own,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement after the sentencing. “Public money intended to assist aging and ailing pandemic victims instead filled the coffers of Do, his family, and insiders.”
Do’s attorney had asked for a shorter term, but prosecutors pushed for the maximum five years under the agreement.
“Public corruption is a unique form of democratic sabotage,” prosecutors said. “It can be more corrosive than overt violence in destabilizing democratic norms, because it operates subtly, behind closed doors, infecting institutions that are meant to embody impartiality.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, beginning in 2020, in exchange for more than $550,000 in bribes, Do voted in favor of and directed more than $10 million in COVID-19 relief funds to a charity affiliated with his daughter.
After receiving the money, the now-defunct nonprofit Viet America Society (VAS) from April 2021 to February 2024 paid a business identified in court documents as “Company #1” $100,000 to $108,000 per month, which came to total about $3.804 million, according to prosecutors.
“Company #1” then began paying Do’s daughter, Rhiannon Do, $8,000 per month, totaling approximately $224,000 by February 2024, prosecutors said.
“Company #1” also sent $381,500 from the funds it had received from VAS to an escrow company to facilitate a $1.035 million home purchase in Tustin, Calif., by Do’s daughter, under her name.
According to the prosecutors, Andrew Do also had $100,000 sent to his other daughter through “Company #2,” an air conditioning company that had been paid by VAS.
Prosecutors said that besides these “disguised bribe[s]” to Do, some bribe money was spent for his direct benefit, which included $14,849 funneled to Do’s daughters to pay property taxes on Andrew Do’s Orange County properties, and about $15,000 used to pay his credit card bills.
Prosecutors said that although VAS’s mission was to provide meals for those in need, Andrew Do knew that VAS was not providing all of the meals it had promised.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said that Do forfeited assets connected to the bribery scheme, including the Tustin property that his daughter purchased. The plea agreement requires Do to pay full restitution.
Do was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James V. Selna, and a restitution hearing was set for Aug. 11.
He is scheduled to surrender to authorities on Aug. 15. Upon completion of his sentence, Do will be placed on three years of supervised release.
Paul Meyer, attorney for Andrew Do, declined a request for comment by The Epoch Times, citing “continued litigation issues.”
2 New Co-Defendants Charged
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors said on June 6 that charges have been filed against two new co-defendants in the case.
Peter Anh Pham, 65, of Garden Grove, California, founder of VAS and also Andrew Do’s friend, was charged with bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Pham is considered a fugitive, according to prosecutors.
Thanh Huong Nguyen, 61, of Santa Ana, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Prosecutors allege that Pham, through VAS, and Nguyen, through a Garden Grove-based group called Hand-to-Hand Relief Organization Inc. (H2H), entered into contracts and beneficiary agreements with the county.
“In many of these contracts, VAS and H2H falsely represented that they would reimburse the county for any funds not spent for the contract’s intended purpose. In each of the beneficiary agreements, VAS and H2H falsely certified that all funds would be used solely for the grant’s intended purpose,” prosecutors said in a June 6 statement.
City News Service contributed to this report.
