logo
Ex-O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do gets 5 years prison in bribery case

Ex-O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do gets 5 years prison in bribery case

Former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, who resigned as part of a plea deal stemming from a bribery scheme involving disbursement of COVID-19 relief funds, was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison.
Attorneys for Do, 62, were asking that he serve just shy of three years in federal prison. Five years was the maximum sentence available under the plea agreement. Prosecutors pushed for the maximum sentence.
From 2020 through 2024, Do 'used his position as the supervisor for Orange County's First District to steer millions of dollars to his personal associates in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes,' prosecutors said in their sentencing brief.
'When the county and the nation were at their most vulnerable (during the COVID-19 pandemic), defendant saw an opportunity to exploit the chaos for his own benefit and, in so doing, betrayed the trust of hundreds of thousands of his constituents,' prosecutors said.
'The scheme was far-reaching and premeditated, and defendant had no qualms about pulling others into his criminal enterprise, including his own children.'
Prosecutors argued that 'public corruption is a unique form of democratic sabotage,' and added, '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.'
The prosecutors argued Do earned harsher punishment for his corruption.
Prosecutors wrote that U.S. District Judge James Selna 'should treat defendant's crimes not merely a theft or fraud by a public official, but as an assault on the very legitimacy of government,' prosecutors said.
Do admitted in his plea agreement that in exchange for more than $550,000 in bribes, he cast votes on the Board of Supervisors beginning in 2020 that directed more than $10 million in COVID relief funds to the Viet America Society, where his daughter Rhiannon worked, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
When Do pleaded guilty in October, Selna told him he could face a stiffer sentence, but then it could be appealed. But Do waived all of his appeals and cannot withdraw the plea if the sentence does not exceed the five years.
From 2021 to 2023, Do funneled more than $10 million in county contracts to VAS, prosecutors said. The money was part of a food-delivery program during the pandemic as well as a $1 million grant for a Vietnam War Memorial in Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley, prosecutors said.
Rhiannon worked for VAS and will be able to take advantage of a diversion program as part of her father's plea deal. Rhiannon Do was paid $8,000 monthly between September 2021 and February 2024, for a total of $224,000, prosecutors said.
In July 2023, $381,500 from VAS was put in escrow so Rhiannon Do could buy a $1.035 million house in Tustin, prosecutors said. Do's other daughter received $100,000 in October 2022, prosecutors said.
Do used $14,849 of the money to pay property tax for two properties in Orange County that he owned with his wife, Orange County Superior Court
Judge Cheri Pham, prosecutors said. Do used another $15,000 to pay off credit card debt, prosecutors said.
Do's 'bribery scheme with VAS was not only corrupt, it also turned out to be a fraud on the county as VAS was not providing the meals to elderly and disabled residents as it had promised,' prosecutors said. VAS 'only spent about 15% ($1.4 million) on providing meals,' they added.
Prosecutors slammed Do for making online videos praising VAS and its owner as a 'selfless community hero.'
Meanwhile, later Monday, a new co-defendant in the case — 61-year-old Thanh Huong Nguyen of Santa Ana — is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and concealment of money laundering. Nguyen was named in an indictment
Wednesday that was unsealed Friday. Nguyen operated the Hand to Hand Relief Organization.
Do's friend and associate Peter Anh Pham, 65, of Garden Grove, who ran VAS, was also indicted on single counts each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud bribery and six counts each of wire fraud and concealment of money laundering. But Pham's whereabouts are unknown and federal prosecutors say he is considered a fugitive.
Probation officials recommended 48 months in prison for Do, but prosecutors said Do should get the five years because he 'literally sold out his most defenseless constituents for his own personal gain during a global medical emergency when they needed him for their very survival.'
Prosecutors also faulted Do for choosing 'to involve his family in his crime, broadening the conspiracy and exposing them to prosecution. This was not only deceptive, it was strategic. It was not a spur-of-the-moment lapse of judgment, but a sustained effort to evade scrutiny through manipulation of personal relationships and familial trust.'
Do's other daughter lost her job and Rhiannon Do 'faces consequences to her potential career as an attorney,' prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also knocked Do for settling a Fair Political Practices Commission Complaint in 2017 for helping a political donor in pursuit of a government contract.
Do's attorneys argued that he 'received no actual payment to himself — all significant funds were provided to his daughter Rhiannon Do,' and that he was 'willfully blinded to the violations by the desire to see benefit to his adult daughter, and his belief that his daughter was providing worthwhile services to those who provided the benefits to her.'
Do, however, 'now recognizes how completely wrong he was in this catastrophic self-delusion,' his attorneys said.
'He has watched the complete destruction of his career, reputation, his life and that of his family,' his attorneys said. 'He apologized to his family, his community and former colleagues and to this court. In short, Andrew Do's life has been destroyed by his own acts.'
He agreed to resign his post as supervisor, had his state bar license suspended, stopped working and volunteers his time to benefit the community, his attorneys said.
Do also agrees that restitution should be between $550,000 and $730,500 and that the sale of the home in Tustin will go toward that, his attorneys said.
Do's attorneys highlighted his service as a public defender and prosecutor as well as an elected official. His 'implicit agreement' to 'reward' Do for the contracts for VAS was not a 'quid-pro-quo' conspiracy, his attorneys argued. The corruption was limited to the dealings with VAS, his lawyers emphasized.
'All of this is important because it underscores that what we are dealing with here is a blind spot involving his daughters, and no way a pattern of corruption,' his attorneys said.
Do's attorneys also recounted his history growing up and ultimately escaping war-torn Vietnam.
Do said in a letter to Selna that he was born in Saigon during the Vietnam War and arrived in the United States when he was 12 years old and settled into a refugee camp in Alabama where his parents worked in a cotton mill. He said he and his siblings worked odd jobs in the neighborhood and 'learned to cope with the anti-immigrant and racist atmosphere that some, but not all, in the community expressed.''
His family moved to Garden Grove in 1976, where '11 of us shared a two-bedroom apartment,' he wrote.
Do wrote in his letter, 'I am guilty. I am ashamed, and I fully admit the wrongs that I have done. I only ask that you look at the larger picture in evaluating my acts.'
He added, 'In retrospect, I can't believe that I did not see the evil of allowing this nonprofit (whose money came from the county) to assist my daughter in purchasing a home. I was blinded by a father's seeing his daughter as being worth every penny of what they paid her.
'My daughter did, indeed, work hard for the nonprofit, and I am proud of the work she did. However, it is clear that I simply did not want to see the payments for what they were (a bribe) and now my bad judgment has derailed all that I had sought to achieve before I left public office.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

RFK Jr. fires CDC's independent vaccine advisors
RFK Jr. fires CDC's independent vaccine advisors

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

RFK Jr. fires CDC's independent vaccine advisors

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he is removing every member of the independent panel advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines, an unprecedented escalation in his quest to reshape the agency. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed released Monday, Kennedy said the move was necessary to restore faith in vaccines. 'A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science,' Kennedy wrote. 'The public must know that unbiased science—evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest—guides the recommendations of our health agencies,' Kennedy said in a subsequent statement. Kennedy said removing every member of the panel will give the Trump administration an opportunity to appoint its own members. Kennedy has long accused ACIP members of having conflicts of interest, sparking concern among vaccine advocates that he would seek to install members who are far more skeptical of approving new vaccines. 'The prior administration made a concerted effort to lock in public health ideology and limit the incoming administration's ability to take the proper actions to restore public trust in vaccines,' Kennedy said. The panelists are not political appointees. The ACIP meets three times a year to review data on vaccines and recommend how they should be used. It is comprised of independent medical and public health experts who do not work for CDC. Members are appointed to four-year terms The panel recently considered narrowing the recommendations for COVID-19 vaccinations for children and was next scheduled to meet later this month to review and vote on recommendations. The HHS statement indicated the meeting will continue as scheduled at CDC's Atlanta headquarters. Ahead of Kennedy's Senate confirmation vote, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said Kennedy pledged to maintain the panel 'without changes.' In a post on X, Cassidy said he had just spoken with Kennedy about the move. 'Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,' he said. 'I've just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I'll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.' Cassidy declined to answer additional questions Monday evening when asked by reporters. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Kennedy and the Trump administration are 'taking a wrecking ball' to health and safety programs. 'Firing experts that have spent their entire lives protecting kids from deadly disease is not reform — it's reckless, radical, and rooted in conspiracy, not science,' Schumer said in a statement. 'Wiping out an entire panel of vaccine experts doesn't build trust — it shatters it, and worse, it sends a chilling message: that ideology matters more than evidence, and politics more than public health.' Updated at 7:20 p.m. EDT Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

MSPs to vote on scaled-back social care reforms
MSPs to vote on scaled-back social care reforms

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

MSPs to vote on scaled-back social care reforms

It started life with a promise from Nicola Sturgeon that it would be most ambitious reform of the devolution era. But when MSPs vote on the final stage of the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill later, the proposals in front of them will be a shadow of what the former first minister pledged in 2021. At the heart of the revamp of social care services was meant to be a National Care Service - but this was dropped by SNP ministers following widespread opposition to how the shake-up would have worked in practice. However, the planned law to enable this flagship change has lived on and will now deliver changes to social care procurement, family care home visits and a new right to breaks for unpaid carers. When it became clear the National Care Service was not going ahead, the Scottish government was left with a Bill it was trying to get passed that was carrying the same name as its defunct policy. This was solved by renaming it the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill and now the planned law focuses on a series of important, but less high-profile, changes to health and social care across the country. One of the big changes planned under the new law is a legal right to breaks for unpaid carers. This mean councils will have a duty to decide whether a carer is able to take sufficient breaks from their caring role. If they are not, then the local authority will provide support to enable this, such as providing funding for short respite breaks. This policy, given Scotland has around 700,000 unpaid carers, will cost between £196m and £315m by 2035/36, according to the Bill's financial memorandum. However, it remains a fraction of the £13.9bn that unpaid care is currently saving Scotland every year. Improvements to the way information is shared in health and social care - to make it less likely that people will have to repeat their information - as well changes to procurement rules in the sector are also planned. Beefing up the powers that watchdogs can take against failing care providers is also part of the bill. The most high-profile part of the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill is Anne's Law, which allows people in care homes to receive visits from a named loved one even in restricted measures. It is named after Anne Duke, who died aged 63 in November 2021 after being cut off from her family while battling early-onset dementia during the Covid pandemic. Her daughter Natasha Hamilton started a petition about the issue at the height of the pandemic, which attracted nearly 100,000 signatures, and this led to a wider campaign about the rights of people in care homes. "I find it sad that it gained that much traction, it showed it was just not me who was affected, but I felt like I had to do something," she explained. "It was the most vulnerable point of my mum's life, she really needed her family and I still can't believe the separation that happened. "But I'm proud that I did this for my mum and for everyone else who had to endure the torture of isolation during Covid." Changes to ensure people living in care homes have the right to visits from a loved one were introduced by the Scottish government in 2022 via national standards for the sector. If the bill is passed by MSPs, the right to have a designated visitor into care homes to support loved ones will become a legal right instead. The original proposal for a National Care Service, inspired by the NHS, was to take social care provision and staff away from local authorities into a new national agency. That was then dropped in favour of creating a national care board to supervise service delivery and improve consistency - but this failed to win over a growing number of critics. Council body Cosla and trade unions then withdrew their support for the project, while a number of health boards and care organisations also expressed concerns. The plan, which was also subject to a series of delays, was eventually scrapped in January after £30m was spent on the process. Social Care Minister Maree Todd said at the time she was "still committed to the ambitions of the National Care Service" but added the SNP no longer had the support it needed in parliament to pass its original plans into law. What is left of the plans today is the creation of a national care service advisory board on a non-statutory basis which will try and improve social care support services. Government scraps plan for National Care Service Why was Scotland's National Care Service scrapped? Almost £30m already spent on National Care Service

NIH chief heads to Capitol Hill to defend Trump budget
NIH chief heads to Capitol Hill to defend Trump budget

The Hill

time2 hours ago

  • The Hill

NIH chief heads to Capitol Hill to defend Trump budget

The Big Story NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya heads to Capitol Hill Tuesday to answer questions about the agency's budget as agency staffers protest changes made under his leadership so far. © AP Bhattacharya will have to defend the $18 billion in cuts to the agency that the Trump administration has requested. This would mean a 40 percent reduction in NIH's budget next year. He'll also likely be questioned during the Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing about NIH's current budget, as the administration has terminated billions of dollars in grants. The hearing comes one day after 90 agency scientists signed a rare letter of protest, modeled after Bhattacharya's 'Great Barrington Declaration' that objected to the Biden administration's COVID-19 policies. Titled 'The Bethesda Declaration' in reference to where NIH's campus is located, the letter lambasted several of the major changes carried out at NIH under the orders of the Trump administration: 'Academic freedom should not be applied selectively based on political ideology. To achieve political aims, NIH has targeted multiple universities with indiscriminate grant terminations, payment freezes for ongoing research, and blanket holds on awards regardless of the quality, progress, or impact of the science,' the letter read. Bhattacharya responded to the letter on social media, arguing the letter had 'some fundamental misconceptions' about NIH's recent actions and further claiming the changes they're protesting are not as severe as they make it seem. Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. Essential Reads How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond: RFK Jr. fires CDC's independent vaccine advisors Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he is removing every member of the independent panel advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines, an unprecedented escalation in his quest to reshape the agency. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed released Monday, Kennedy said the move was necessary to restore faith in vaccines. 'A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence … Kash Patel claims 'breakthrough' in Fauci COVID origins probe FBI Director Kash Patel said in an interview this week that his agency made a 'breakthrough' as it continues to investigate former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key player in the U.S.'s early response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, Patel cautioned Fauci's critics from expecting too much. 'We just had a great breakthrough … Gender gap on abortion rights hit record high: Gallup The gender gap between men and women who identify as pro-choice has widened to its largest point on record, according to a new Gallup poll. Sixty-one percent of women view themselves as pro-choice when it comes to abortion while 41 percent of men call themselves pro-choice, the poll released Monday found. The 20-point difference between the genders is the largest gap since Gallup began tracking public opinion on abortion twenty … On Our Radar Upcoming news themes and events we're watching: In Other News Branch out with a different read: What's a Medicaid cut? Senate GOP tiptoes around $800B question When is a Medicaid cut not actually a cut? That's the $800 billion question facing Senate Republicans as they write their own version of the sweeping House-passed tax and spending bill. Administration officials and senators defending against attacks on the bill have coalesced around a message that there will be no cuts to benefits, and the only people who will lose coverage are the ones who never deserved … Around the Nation Local and state headlines on health care: What We're Reading Health news we've flagged from other outlets: What Others are Reading Most read stories on The Hill right now: Pam Bondi's brother crushed in DC Bar Association election Brad Bondi, the brother of Attorney General Pam Bondi, overwhelmingly lost his bid to lead the D.C. Bar Association in a race with record turnout, … Read more Pentagon to deploy about 700 Marines to Los Angeles The U.S. military is set to temporarily move about 700 Marines to Los Angeles, further increasing military presence in the city after the Trump administration … Read more What People Think Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill: You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store