At least two Orange County supervisors said they would support an independent review into how more than $10 million in payments to Viet America Society were processed despite incomplete monthly invoices, lacking documentation of how the funds were being spent and while the state was questioning the group’s nonprofit status.
This comes after Tuesday’s announcement that former OC Supervisor Andrew Do agreed to plead guilty in federal court to taking at least $550,000 in bribe money to direct millions of dollars in COVID-relief funds received by the county to Viet America Society. The money, mostly from his First District discretionary fund, was intended to feed the elderly and those with disabilities and build a Vietnam War monument, but federal officials said less than a quarter was used to the benefit of the community.
Although the county is conducting an internal investigation, supervisors Katrina Foley and Vicente Sarmiento said an independent review could be needed to regain the public’s trust.
“I’ve always been a believer that having an independent, autonomous third-party provide both an investigation and audit of our agency and its procedures is probably more objective than doing something internally,” Second District Supervisor Sarmiento said. “Having simply an internal investigation or audit should be a first step, but I do think that needs to be confirmed and supported by an independent and outside independent review.”
Jodi Balma, a political science professor at Fullerton College, said a third-party investigator could be more objective in determining who in the county dropped the ball. The funds kept flowing although Viet America Society missed multiple deadlines to complete a federally required audit and produce other requested documentation.
“There’s a whole lot of rules and regulations that were ignored and overruled,” Balma said. “People should be fired. It could be incompetence or corruption that Do got what he wanted.”
Do steered federal pandemic relief funds to the start-up Viet America Society, which went on to employ his daughter as a condition, according to Do’s plea agreement. Part of the money his daughter, Rhiannon Do, received was used to buy a $1,035,000 house in Tustin, the agreement said. Another daughter received $100,000, Do admitted.
The embezzlement scheme started in 2020 and ended this year, according to authorities.
Do is expected to appear in federal court on Oct. 31.
John Moorlach, a former county supervisor who also served on the state senate, agreed an audit is needed, perhaps by the elected auditor-controller or by a grand jury, to locate the breakdown in county policy or procedure.
Moorlach said it is possible staff members were hesitant to call out or question the once powerful Do.
“Part of this is the influence of an elected supervisor,” he said. “You don’t want to (tick) off your boss. Obviously, he’s not going to do something that stupid, right? Wrong!”
Moorlach argued there is too much money going into the supervisors’ district discretionary funds program and not enough public scrutiny baked in. “That’s a problem waiting to happen,” he said.
Neither Do’s resignation Tuesday from the Board of Supervisors, or his plea agreement, end the search to answer questions about how this level of public dollar theft was allowed to happen, Sarmiento said.
“Now the more, or as important, next step is to make sure we understand how he was able to operate, and allowed to have public funds directed to VAS and then to his family,” Sarmiento said.
Fifth District Supervisor Foley said she supports and welcomes all investigations to protect taxpayer dollars.
“The VAS nonprofit got set up, literally, to accept these funds. So one of our reforms in the future is that you have to have an established nonprofit that has their active status,” Foley said. “And it’s an existing nonprofit, not something just set up in order to get money.”
Related links
Orange County sues Viet America Society leaders, including Supervisor Andrew Do’s daughter
OC Board of Supervisors censures Supervisor Andrew Do
Federal investigators raid homes of Supervisor Andrew Do, his daughter and Viet America Society president
Some supervisors call Andrew Do’s proximity to Viet America Society controversy a distraction
Viet America Society non compliant long before county pushback
OC Board of Supervisors take steps to strengthen county contract oversight
Viet America lawyer says OC lawsuit is inaccurate and a ‘hatchet job’
Board of Supervisors to consider broadened conflict of interest disclosures
Supervisors have already put reforms in place to improve contract oversight, including requiring that all discretionary fund contracts be reviewed and approved by the county’s contract procurement office.
Whether concerns raised by county staff regarding Viet America Society were being overruled by their bosses, possibly department heads, is a concern for both Foley and Sarmiento, each said.
“To the extent that we had frontline staff identifying flaws or flagging concerns with some of these contracts to vendors who didn’t seem credible. Those are the types of concerns that I believe both an internal and external audit and investigations need to focus on,” Sarmiento said.
Foley said, “We need to drill down on all the other bad actors” involved in the scheme.
“As we do further investigating and work through that process, we need to make sure that we give the community updates regularly and we keep them in the know on what’s happening,” Foley said. “That’s the only way we’re going to keep trust.”
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