Inside weeks of it being revealed that Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do had directed hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in contracts to a nonprofit with out disclosing a hyperlink to his daughter — a scandal that sparked a lawsuit and a doable federal probe — his daughter started working as an intern for the county’s high prosecutor.
Rhiannon Do labored on the Orange County district legal professional’s workplace for 4 months earlier this 12 months, a spokesperson for the D.A.’s workplace confirmed to The Occasions. County officers stated Do was not paid.
And on the similar time, the county was additionally making an attempt to account for $13.5 million in contracts that had been directed to Viet America Society, a nonprofit that after listed the supervisor’s daughter as its president. The nonprofit has failed to provide satisfactory documentation on the way it used the county’s cash to feed the needy and aged, in line with a lawsuit filed earlier this month.
Two county supervisors stated they had been unaware of Rhiannon Do’s transient stint on the district legal professional’s workplace whereas county officers thought-about a lawsuit towards the nonprofit and requested for native and federal officers to step in. The remaining board members didn’t reply to a request for remark.
In response to the lawsuit, Viet America Society and its executives, together with Rhiannon Do, “overtly plundered” taxpayer cash supposed to feed the needy and as an alternative used it to purchase a number of properties. Inside days of the lawsuit being filed Aug. 15, brokers with the FBI, the IRS and the district legal professional’s workplace had been serving search warrants at properties throughout the county, together with a Tustin home bought by Rhiannon Do in July 2023, and the house of Supervisor Andrew Do.
LAist was first to report that Andrew Do had didn’t disclose his daughter’s ties to Viet America Society throughout the vote.
Regulation enforcement officers have declined to supply particulars on their investigation.
However earlier than the joint investigation between native and federal officers was launched, Rhiannon Do labored as a scholar volunteer from Jan. 15 to April 17, stated Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the district legal professional’s workplace.
That she interned with the D.A.’s workplace, and its investigators participated in final week’s searches alongside federal brokers, might increase some problematic questions, stated Stan Goldman, a Loyola Regulation College professor who has testified as an skilled witness on conflicts of curiosity.
“I see it as unwise,” Goldman stated. “It’s not a cautious, sensible choice. It’s one thing that would jeopardize the D.A. staying on the case.”
Do has since left VAS however was nonetheless concerned with the nonprofit throughout the first weeks of her internship. Sterling Scott Winchell, an legal professional who represents the group, stated her work on the nonprofit ended someday in February.
Whereas on the district legal professional’s workplace, the UC Irvine regulation scholar, now in her third 12 months, was assigned to a misdemeanor department court docket and positioned below the supervision of a misdemeanor line deputy district legal professional, Edds stated in an electronic mail assertion.
“She was assigned to carry out ministerial duties two days every week for as much as a complete of 10 hours on the Central Justice Middle,” she stated.
Do was one in every of 38 scholar volunteers, together with 11 others from UC Irvine.
Edds didn’t reply to follow-up questions on whether or not the D.A.’s workplace was conscious that Andrew Do was coming below scrutiny for his position in awarding VAS contracts or that the county was working to recuperate a few of these funds when Do’s daughter was chosen for this system.
However she stated govt managers confirmed Do had no interplay with the workplace’s Main Fraud Unit or the Particular Prosecutions Unit, which oversees public corruption instances, whereas she volunteered on the D.A.’s workplace.
The county lawsuit alleges that executives with VAS, together with Rhiannon Do, siphoned the cash from county contracts to their private financial institution accounts. County attorneys accuse the supervisor’s 23-year-old daughter of utilizing that cash to buy a house in Tustin in July 2023.
In response to the true property web site Redfin, the house was bought for $1,035,000.
Attorneys for VAS have denied any wrongdoing, and stated the contracts had been fulfilled.
Rhiannon Do’s legal professional, David Wiechert, declined to touch upon her time on the D.A.’s workplace however stated in an electronic mail she is “a hardworking, sincere, and law-abiding younger girl.”
Andrew Do’s workplace declined to remark.
Earlier than the joint investigation involving federal and native officers, Orange County Supervisors Katrina Foley and Vicente Sarmiento had been calling for regulation enforcement to step in and examine the allegations towards VAS. In an announcement on Aug. 12, the 2 supervisors known as on Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer to research the unaccounted funds.
Following final week’s raids by federal investigators, Foley and Sarmiento have known as on Andrew Do to resign. He can be termed out in November.
Sarmiento, in an announcement to The Occasions, stated he was not conscious of Rhiannon’s position within the district legal professional’s workplace earlier than being contacted by a reporter. Nonetheless, he stated he had no issues concerning the district legal professional’s involvement and was glad his pleas for regulation enforcement to step in had been heard.
“The scope of the investigation exhibits that the District Lawyer’s workplace has been concerned over a number of months, and I’m glad that my request for motion was heard,” he stated. “I don’t have issues relating to the DA and count on that he’ll act in accordance with the duties of the workplace. It’s also my hope that the DA will at all times pursue points associated to misconduct or corruption by elected officers at any degree within the county.”
A spokesperson for the county referred inquiries to the district legal professional’s workplace.
Supervisor Doug Chaffee additionally stated he was unaware of Rhiannon Do’s position as an intern.
“The District Lawyer’s Workplace, like different departments, doesn’t notify the Board places of work about their employment of scholar interns or volunteers,” Chaffee stated in an announcement.
The case highlights the tight, interconnected circles regulation enforcement officers have needed to navigate in an investigation that seems to have ensnared one of many Orange County’s most influential figures, who has been in politics for a minimum of 16 years.
Earlier than being elected to the Board of Supervisors, Andrew Do served on the Backyard Grove Metropolis Council. Earlier than that, he labored as an Orange County prosecutor. He’s a member of the Republican Occasion of Orange County’s 72nd Meeting District Committee. His spouse, Cheri Pham, is helping presiding choose of Orange County Superior Courtroom.
On their very own, a number of of those points wouldn’t current an moral dilemma or battle of curiosity, stated Goldman, the regulation professor. He factors out that internships at county prosecutor places of work are frequent positions sought out by regulation college students.
However the accumulation of things, he says, raises worries that a minimum of the looks of a battle may very well be made.
“These are all little issues in itself however, you add three of them collectively and also you say, ethically, perhaps it is best to again off,” he stated.
Because the raids on the properties of Supervisor Do, his daughter, and the chief govt of VAS, Peter Pham, requires Do to resign his seat on the board of supervisors have elevated.
Do was absent from a board of supervisors assembly Tuesday.
Throughout the assembly, Foley known as on the California legal professional common to research whether or not Do lives within the Board of Supervisors’ First District, which he represents. The house that was raided by the FBI, in Tustin, is exterior his district.
The board can also be set to think about on Sept. 10 whether or not to take away Do from his assignments.
“Andrew, please resign,” Foley stated throughout the Tuesday assembly. “In case you really care about this county, as you’ve claimed many occasions previously, then you’ll step down so we will start to heal the deep wounds that you’ve precipitated all of us.”
