In a brand new lawsuit, Orange County alleges executives at a nonprofit took thousands and thousands of tax {dollars} to feed the aged and needy throughout the pandemic, then pocketed greater than $10 million and purchased houses for themselves.
Among the many Viet America Society executives named within the lawsuit was Rhiannon Do, daughter of Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do.
County officers final week demanded that Viet America Society return $2.2 million in contract funds after the group out of the blue fired auditors and failed to indicate the county the way it spent the cash.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, county officers went past accusing the nonprofit and its executives of failing to trace how the cash was spent. As a substitute, they accused the executives on the group of utilizing taxpayer cash as “funding streams” for “their very own private financial institution accounts.”
Fairly than feed the aged and needy throughout the pandemic as their contracts required, the lawsuit alleges that Viet America Society, or VAS, “openly plundered these funds for their very own private achieve.”
“VAS can not account for the place the cash went, when and the place it was spent, and/or whether or not it was spent on contract functions,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants engaged in pervasive self-dealing, pocketing native and federal funds.”
The swimsuit accuses VAS Chief Government Peter Ahn Pham, Secretary Dinh Mai and different executives of breach of contract, intentional misrepresentations, fiduciary negligence, conspiracy and unjust enrichment, amongst different allegations.
It additionally accuses Rhiannon Do of benefiting from the alleged scheme and buying a million-dollar dwelling within the course of.
LAist was first to report that Supervisor Do directed or voted to direct as a lot as $13.5 million to VAS with out disclosing that his then-22-year-old daughter was related to the group.
Former VAS legal professional Sterling Scott Winchell had beforehand downplayed Do’s position within the nonprofit, telling The Occasions she wasn’t a frontrunner within the group and “was simply working there doing meal plans.”
Within the lawsuit, nonetheless, the county supervisor’s daughter is described as an officer of VAS, as both president or vice chairman. At one level, the swimsuit alleges, she recognized herself as government director of the nonprofit and took part in administrators’ conferences.
“This lawsuit is a shame,” stated Mark S. Rosen, an legal professional for VAS, in a press release. “VAS supplied all the products and companies, however didn’t, to start with, preserve nice data.”
Within the assertion, Rosen stated the lawsuit was politically motivated, and he insisted that VAS accomplished its duties underneath the contracts.
“My shopper continues to offer meals and supply for the poor and the disabled in the present day,” the assertion reads. “You might be all invited to come back and see it in motion. And they’re holding wonderful data in the present day.”
He additionally claimed the lawsuit incorporates a number of factual errors, resembling allegations that Pham bought a house in Buena Park together with his spouse.
Rosen stated Pham will not be married, doesn’t know the particular person named as his spouse within the lawsuit, and doesn’t personal property in Buena Park.
The allegations outlined within the lawsuit have prompted different members of the Board of Supervisors to name on native, state and federal officers to step in and examine.
“The lawsuit filed by the County of Orange highlights rampant abuse of taxpayer funds to counterpoint well-connected insiders as an alternative of feeding weak seniors within the Vietnamese neighborhood,” Supervisor Katrina Foley stated in a press release. “These allegations present blatant deception and greed by people motivated solely to counterpoint themselves.”
Supervisor Do, via his Chief of Employees Chris Wangsaporn, declined to remark.
The lawsuit alleges that, starting in 2020, the county awarded VAS greater than $10 million in contracts to ship meals throughout the pandemic.
When it got here time to account for the way the cash was spent, county officers allege VAS submitted common invoices resembling “Companies for the County of Orange Dietary Hole Program” that lacked any of the required particulars, resembling when or what number of meals had been delivered.
VAS employed an organization, Pun Group, to do an audit and supply it to the county. Then in July, Pun Group officers informed the county VAS had not supplied sufficient info to finish the audit, that the nonprofit lacked inside controls, and that the forthcoming report would define the difficulties Pun Group confronted in trying to do the audit. The day after, VAS terminated its contract with Pun Group.
In a press release, Rosen stated he delivered to the county a letter on Aug. 12, and an evaluation from an authorized public accounting agency — Buu D. Nguyen CPA — detailing VAS’ accounting.
The report, Rosen stated, discovered that VAS complied with its contractual obligations, however lacked inside controls due to staffing shortages.
In keeping with the letter, Buu D. Nguyen did an evaluation of VAS financials in January. The evaluation will not be talked about within the swimsuit.
In a earlier interview, Winchell stated VAS employed an organization that he declined to call to finish the audit after Pun Group was terminated in July. It’s unclear if he was referring to Buu D. Nguyen CPA.
Winchell informed The Occasions that as of Monday, he was not representing VAS.
Within the letter to the county, Rosen referred to as the demand to have cash returned “a political witch hunt.”
Rosen additionally criticized how the county had checked to see whether or not the promised meals had been delivered, saying the county’s evaluate of 275 contributors was too small. He questioned whether or not the county used bilingual investigators, and argued that many contributors wouldn’t cooperate with investigators due to their previous expertise with the Communist authorities in Vietnam.
The county alleges executives on the nonprofit spent the cash on corporations managed by VAS executives or shut associates.
In April, Might, June and July of 2021, for instance, an organization named Aloha submitted invoices for $100,000 every to VAS. Across the similar time, Fragrance River Restaurant & Lounge additionally submitted 12 invoices totaling $108,000, in line with the swimsuit.
These corporations didn’t present the companies claimed within the invoices, nonetheless, the lawsuit alleges. It additionally alleges that Pham, the CEO of VAS, has a stake in Fragrance River Restaurant & Lounge, and that Aloha was additionally doing enterprise as Fragrance River Restaurant & Lounge.
In 2022 and 2024, Thinh Nguyen was listed as VAS chief monetary officer. In 2023, he was named chief government and CFO of Aloha.
The businesses, the swimsuit alleges, “had been used as a mere shell for the wrongful conduct of the person defendants.”
Between 2021 and 2024, the county alleges, VAS transferred a few of its property to Pham, Do, and Mai, who then purchased properties in Backyard Grove, Buena Park, Santa Ana, Fountain Valley and Tustin.
Amongst these purchases, Do’s daughter allegedly bought a three-bedroom dwelling in Tustin in July 2023. In keeping with the true property web site Redfin, that dwelling was purchased that month for $1,035,000.
