Latest news with #COVID-relief
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do headed to prison for COVID relief bribery scheme
Andrew Do, the former Orange County supervisor who took more than $550,000 in bribes over COVID-relief money meant to buy meals for needy, elderly constituents, was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison. 'I just do not believe a sentence anything less than the maximum reflects the seriousness of the crime,' said U.S. District Judge James Selna. "Public corruption brings damage far beyond the monetary loss to the county." The judge expressed displeasure that the law allowed him to sentence Do to only five years. Do fled war-torn Vietnam with his family as a child to become an attorney and one of Southern California's most powerful Vietnamese American politicians. As part of a plea deal, Do admitted last year that he funneled more than $10 million in federal pandemic funds to a nonprofit that in turn steered money to his two daughters. The scandal was uncovered in 2023 by the news site LAist, which reported that Do approved contracts worth millions to the nonprofit, which promised to provide meals to the poor, elderly and disabled residents of Little Saigon but could show scant evidence of its effort. Do approved the contracts without disclosing that his 23-year-old daughter Rhiannon, a law student at UC Irvine, had signed documents identifying herself as the nonprofit's president or vice president. As accusations mounted, Do claimed he was the victim of slander, responding with defiant vitriol against the reporter who broke the story, Nick Gerda, and demanding his firing. When the Orange County Register called for Do's resignation, he accused the newspaper of spreading 'gross misinformation.' Late last year, however, Do agreed to resign from the Board of Supervisors and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. Federal prosecutors said the Viet America Society gave Rhiannon a job, and paid her as an employee, after her father voted in favor of the lucrative contracts. Prosecutors also said the organization steered money to Do's other daughter through an air conditioning company. 'I'm very grateful that the judge saw the case for what it is,' said Janet Nguyen, the current First District Supervisor. 'He benefitted while people suffered. He took advantage during the pandemic, when no one was watching.' She said the county is conducting an audit to better understand how Do's scheme was allowed to occur. Prosecutors accused Rhiannon Do of making a false statement on a loan application, but agreed to defer the charge, allowing her to enter a diversion agreement in exchange for her cooperation. The elder Do, a Republican, worked as a deputy public defender and a prosecutor before he won a special election in 2015 to represent Orange County's 1st Supervisorial District, which covers Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Westminster and Seal Beach. He became the second Vietnamese American ever to serve on the board, and was later elected to two four-year terms. He was known for his efforts to combat homelessness and for his sponsorship of a Tet Festival in Fountain Valley that drew thousands of people annually. At a time when Vietnamese immigrants face increased threats of eviction and deportation, the disgraced supervisor's behavior 'erodes the already precarious level of trust our community has in the government,' said Mai Nguyen Do, the research and policy manager for the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice, a community group. 'After he's released, it wouldn't surprise me if he goes about his life, and meanwhile so many working-class people in the community don't have the resources to pick themselves up again after they're incarcerated,' said Do, who has no relation to the former supervisor. Jodi Balma, a professor of political science at Fullerton College who has followed the Do scandal, wondered how the bribery scheme somehow passed through the checkpoints of the county bureaucracy. 'There are really good and smart though somewhat annoying procedures in place to verify all contracts with the county,' Balma said. 'Somebody had to say, 'Approve that payment' without any receipts or verification or services. And those people have not been held responsible.' Balma also wondered whether it was fair that Rhiannon Do was allowed to enter a diversion program. 'If there is no punishment for his daughter, that feels unfair to all the other law students who might not be accepted to the California Bar Association because of misconduct,' Balma said. 'This is huge misconduct for someone who wants to be a lawyer.' Andrew Do's defense attorneys asked that he be sentenced to 33 months in prison. In a court filing, they said he had been volunteering at a maritime institute that teaches sailing to underprivileged teens, adding that the head of the program had praised Do's 'unwavering ethical compass.' The defense attorneys said that Do had expressed 'shame' and 'deep sorrow' for his crimes, that his license to practice law had been suspended and that his life has been 'destroyed by his own acts.' Do had 'received no actual payment to himself—all significant funds were provided to his daughter Rhiannon Do,' the defense wrote in a court motion, claiming he had been 'willfully blinded to the violations by the desire to see benefit to his adult daughter.… He now recognizes how completely wrong he was in this catastrophic self-delusion.' The plea deal called for restitution between $550,000 and $730,500, with the sale of the family's forfeited house in Tustin credited against that figure. 'This episode of poor judgment stands out as unique in his otherwise commendable life,' the defense wrote. 'He had a catastrophic lapse of judgment when he failed to stop payments to his daughters, and because VAS was helping his family, he failed to see the red flags of these illegal acts.' Pleading for leniency, defense attorneys invoked Do's backstory as a man who rose to public service after a childhood in war-ravaged Vietnam. But prosecutors said his background only amplified his guilt, considering many of the constituents he victimized had similarly difficult pasts, and he was aware of their vulnerability. Do 'made the decision to abandon the elderly, sick, and impoverished during a national emergency so that he could personally benefit,' prosecutors wrote. 'When the County and nation were at their most vulnerable, 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 wrote. 'The scheme was far-reaching and premeditated, and defendant had no qualms about pulling others into his criminal enterprise, including his own children.' Do's crimes, the prosecutors wrote, were 'an assault on the very legitimacy of government.' Calling his conduct 'despicable' and his attempt to minimize his crimes 'absurd,' prosecutors said that of the more than $10 million he steered to the Viet America Society , much of it supposedly for meal programs for the elderly and disabled, only $1.4 million went to that purpose. Do's willingness to involve his family in his scheme pointed to his 'moral indifference,' prosecutors said, while his campaign of invective against the press aggravated his culpability. In connection with the Do case, the U.S. Attorneys office announced charges last week of bribery against the founder of the Viet America Society, and for wire fraud against a man affiliated with another Orange County relief group. The judge ordered that Do surrender himself to federal custody by Aug. 15 and recommended he be incarcerated in the federal prison in Lompoc. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opelousas residents receive updates on stadium, park funding
OPELOUSAS, La. () — One of the biggest questions from Opelousas residents regarding the Donald Gardner Stadium and South City Park renovation project has been, 'Where is the funding coming from?' Now State Representative Dustin Miller and the city's mayor, Julius Alsandor, have released statements to provide that much desired transparency. Miller, who says transparency is essential, said in a statement 'The City of Opelousas and St. Landry Parish Government have each contributed $500,000 from the federal COVID-relief fund.' Sponsorship opportunities coming to South City Park Miller goes on to clarify that no local city government tax dollars are tied to the Donald Gardner Stadium Improvements, nor are they tied to the Community Center or library renovations. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now This information was echoed by Mayor Julius Alsandor who released a statement of his own. 'The City of Opelousas has provided $500,000 towards the project through dedicated ARPA funds that were restricted for specific projects such as this,' Alsandor said. Alsandor goes on to say Representative Miller was able to secure an additional $1 million in dedicated funds through the state and the remainder of the project is funded by the . Both Miller and Alsandor say the Community Center project and the library improvement project will be packaged together by the grant funding they received, and both projects will move together. With a large number of complaints coming in regarding the city's infrastructure, Alsandor says funding for the South City Park does not interfere with Infrastructure funds in any way. Councilman shares maintenance is working to resolve gas line at Himbola Manor Apartments Opelousas residents receive updates on stadium, park funding Hawley grills insurance executives about cutting disaster payouts 'The Office' spinoff is coming, but when? Multicar crash near Target Loop causes delay Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Top 5 most outrageous ways the government has wasted your taxes, as uncovered by Elon Musk's DOGE
As President Donald Trump celebrated his 100th day in office this week, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said it has cut at least $160 billion in waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. When Trump signed an executive order establishing the agency on his Inauguration Day, DOGE set an ambitious goal of cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget. According to the Office of Government Ethics, "special government employees" like Musk can work for the federal government no more than 130 days a year, which in Musk's case will fall on May 30. He has already started paring back his hours leading the controversial agency. Fox News Channel's "Jesse Watters Primetime" had the opportunity to see behind the curtain of Musk's infamous DOGE, which Democrats have railed against and Republicans have celebrated since Trump returned to the White House this year. The "DOGE boys" reminded Watters on Thursday of some of the most shocking savings secured by the department this year. Doge's Greatest Hits: Look Back At The Department's Most High-profile Cuts During Trump's First 100 Days Earlier this year, DOGE discovered the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) had transferred $132,000 to Mohammad Qasem Halimi, a former Taliban member who was Afghanistan's former Chief of Protocol. DOGE announced on March 31 that the contract was canceled. Read On The Fox News App Halimi was detained by the U.S. and held at Bagram Air Base for a year beginning Jan. 2, 2002. He held several positions in Afghanistan's government following his release and was appointed as the Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs in Afghanistan in 2020. "A small agency called the United States Institute of Peace is definitely the agency we've had the most fight at. We actually went into the agency and found they had loaded guns inside their headquarters — Institute for Peace," a DOGE staffer told Watters. "So by far, the least peaceful agency that we've worked with, ironically. Additionally, we found that they were spending money on things like private jets, and they even had a $130,000 contract with a former member of the Taliban. This is real. We don't encounter that in most agencies." USIP did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's inquiry. Elon Musk Looks Back On 100 Days Of Doge, Previews Future Of The 'Long-term Enterprise' Fox News Digital reported earlier this year that the nation's schools spent $200 billion in COVID-relief funds on expenses "with little oversight or impact on students," such as Las Vegas hotel rooms and buying an ice cream truck, according to DOGE's audits. Granite School District in Utah spent their COVID-relief funds on $86,000 in hotel rooms for an educational conference at Caesars Palace, a ritzy Las Vegas casino, while Santa Ana Unified in California spent $393,000 to rent out a Major League Baseball stadium, according to a report by Parents Defending Education and shared by DOGE. Granite School District has since denied "any impropriety for having our educators participate" in the Las Vegas conference. The cost-cutting department also revealed that schools spent $60,000 of COVID-relief funds on swimming pool passes, while a California district used its funds to purchase an ice cream truck. "They were basically partying on the taxpayers' dollars," Musk told Watters on Thursday. Caesars Palace, Mlb Stadium, An Ice Cream Truck: Doge Reveals How Schools Spent Billions In Covid-relief Funds Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is chairwoman of the Senate DOGE Caucus and who has collaborated closely with Musk to identify waste to cut, revealed that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) "authorized a whopping $20 million to create a 'Sesame Street' in Iraq." Ernst said that under the Biden administration, USAID awarded the $20 million to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop to produce a show called "Ahlan Simsim Iraq" in an effort to "promote inclusion, mutual respect and understanding across ethnic, religious and sectarian groups." DOGE received a hand from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which released a report in March revealing that federal agencies wasted $162 billion in "improper payments," which was actually a decrease of $74 billion from the previous fiscal year. GAO's analysis revealed that of the 16 government agencies reporting improper payments, 75% of the waste found was concentrated in five programs: $54 billion from three Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Medicare programs; $31 billion in HHS Medicaid; $16 billion from the Department of the Treasury's earned income tax credit; $11 billion from the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; and $9 billion from the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Restaurant Revitalization Fund. On the campaign trail and since taking office, Trump has made it clear he aims to slash diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) spending in the federal government, while making the case that a system of meritocracy should be the focus. DOGE has announced over the last few months that it has cut hundreds of millions in DEI contracts. Earlier this month, DOGE announced it had worked with the U.S. National Science Foundation to cancel 402 "wasteful" DEI grants, which will save $233 million, including $1 million for "Antiracist Teacher Leadership for Statewide Transformation." The Department of Defense could save up to $80 million in wasteful spending by cutting loose a handful of DEI programs, the agency announced last month. The Defense Department has been working with DOGE to slash wasteful spending, DOD spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video posted to social media. Parnell listed some of the initial findings flagged by DOGE, much of it consisting of millions of dollars given to support various DEI programs, including $1.9 million for holistic DEI transformation and training in the Air Force and $6 million to the University of Montana to "strengthen American democracy by bridging divides." The Trump administration announced earlier this month it is slashing millions of dollars in DEI grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as part of its overall DOGE push. And in February, the Department of Education said it is canceling more than $100 million in grants to DEI training as part of DOGE's article source: Top 5 most outrageous ways the government has wasted your taxes, as uncovered by Elon Musk's DOGE
Fox News
02-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Top 5 most outrageous ways the government has wasted your taxes, as uncovered by Elon Musk's DOGE
As President Donald Trump celebrated his 100th day in office this week, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said it has cut at least $160 billion in waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. When Trump signed an executive order establishing the agency on his Inauguration Day, DOGE set an ambitious goal of cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget. According to the Office of Government Ethics, "special government employees" like Musk can work for the federal government no more than 130 days a year, which in Musk's case will fall on May 30. He has already started pairing back his hours leading the controversial agency. Fox News Channel's "Jesse Watters Primetime" had the opportunity to see behind the curtain of Musk's infamous DOGE, which Democrats have railed against and Republicans have celebrated since Trump returned to the White House this year. The "DOGE boys" reminded Watters on Thursday of some of the most shocking savings secured by the department this year. Earlier this year, DOGE discovered the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) had transferred $132,000 to Mohammad Qasem Halimi, a former Taliban member who was Afghanistan's former Chief of Protocol. DOGE announced on March 31 that the contract was canceled. Halimi was detained by the U.S. and held at Bagram Air Base for a year beginning Jan. 2, 2002. He held several positions in Afghanistan's government following his release and was appointed as the Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs in Afghanistan in 2020. "A small agency called the United States Institute of Peace is definitely the agency we've had the most fight at. We actually went into the agency and found they had loaded guns inside their headquarters — Institute for Peace," a DOGE staffer told Watters. "So by far, the least peaceful agency that we've worked with, ironically. Additionally, we found that they were spending money on things like private jets, and they even had a $130,000 contract with a former member of the Taliban. This is real. We don't encounter that in most agencies." USIP did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's inquiry. Fox News Digital reported earlier this year that the nation's schools spent $200 billion in COVID-relief funds on expenses "with little oversight or impact on students," such as Las Vegas hotel rooms and buying an ice cream truck, according to DOGE's audits. Granite School District in Utah spent their COVID-relief funds on $86,000 in hotel rooms for an educational conference at Caesars Palace, a ritzy Las Vegas casino, while Santa Ana Unified in California spent $393,000 to rent out a Major League Baseball stadium, according to a report by Parents Defending Education and shared by DOGE. Granite School District has since denied "any impropriety for having our educators participate" in the Las Vegas conference. The cost-cutting department also revealed that schools spent $60,000 of COVID-relief funds on swimming pool passes, while a California district used its funds to purchase an ice cream truck. "They were basically partying on the taxpayers' dollars," Musk told Watters on Thursday. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is chairwoman of the Senate DOGE Caucus and who has collaborated closely with Musk to identify waste to cut, revealed that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) "authorized a whopping $20 million to create a 'Sesame Street' in Iraq." Ernst said that under the Biden administration, USAID awarded the $20 million to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop to produce a show called "Ahlan Simsim Iraq" in an effort to "promote inclusion, mutual respect and understanding across ethnic, religious and sectarian groups." DOGE received a hand from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which released a report in March revealing that federal agencies wasted $162 billion in "improper payments," which was actually a decrease of $74 billion from the previous fiscal year. GAO's analysis revealed that of the 16 government agencies reporting improper payments, 75% of the waste found was concentrated in five programs: $54 billion from three Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Medicare programs; $31 billion in HHS Medicaid; $16 billion from the Department of the Treasury's earned income tax credit; $11 billion from the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; and $9 billion from the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Restaurant Revitalization Fund. On the campaign trail and since taking office, Trump has made it clear he aims to slash diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) spending in the federal government, while making the case that a system of meritocracy should be the focus. DOGE has announced over the last few months that it has cut hundreds of millions in DEI contracts. Earlier this month, DOGE announced it had worked with the U.S. National Science Foundation to cancel 402 "wasteful" DEI grants, which will save $233 million, including $1 million for "Antiracist Teacher Leadership for Statewide Transformation." The Department of Defense could save up to $80 million in wasteful spending by cutting loose a handful of DEI programs, the agency announced last month. The Defense Department has been working with DOGE to slash wasteful spending, DOD spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video posted to social media. Parnell listed some of the initial findings flagged by DOGE, much of it consisting of millions of dollars given to support various DEI programs, including $1.9 million for holistic DEI transformation and training in the Air Force and $6 million to the University of Montana to "strengthen American democracy by bridging divides." The Trump administration announced earlier this month it is slashing millions of dollars in DEI grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as part of its overall DOGE push. And in February, the Department of Education said it is canceling more than $100 million in grants to DEI training as part of DOGE's efforts.
Los Angeles Times
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
O.C. Supervisors approve victim impact statement for Andrew Do sentencing
Orange County supervisors Tuesday approved a victim impact statement for the federal judge to consider in the sentencing of former Supervisor Andrew Do, who pleaded guilty to bribery. The board voted 3-1 for the letter with Supervisor Don Wagner dissenting and Chairman Doug Chaffee abstaining. Wagner objected to adding the resolution the board approved earlier this month asking for federal and state prosecutors to review the plea deal for Do, which they said was too lenient with a maximum punishment of 5 years. Chaffee also echoed concerns about how attaching the resolution would send conflicting messages to U.S. District Judge James Selna. 'I want the maximum sentence, and I think this detracts from that possibility,' Chaffee said. Wagner argued that the resolution and the victim impact statement 'serve two very different purposes... By attaching the resolution we're diminishing the impact statement. We are somehow again saying to the court we believe what we're trying to do as the victim here is not being served by the prosecutors and you, the judge... It's terribly inappropriate for us to do it.' Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who sponsored the resolution, objected to how she felt county attorneys watered down the victim impact statement and wouldn't support it unless the resolution calling for a review of the plea deal was attached. 'This, to me, is offensive and it is wrong,' Nguyen said, arguing the victim impact statement is weaker than the resolution. That prompted Vice Chair Katrina Foley to suggest attaching the resolution to the victim impact statement. Foley did not share the concerns of Wagner and Chaffee, saying the victims could really just say what they want in a statement to the judge. Foley also emphasized, 'I believe the (Department of Justice) and the (District Attorney) did a good job' on the plea deal. 'I am not questioning the integrity (of the agreement).' Foley agreed with Nguyen that it was appropriate to list all of the potential charges Do could have faced if he had not agreed to plead guilty. Do is scheduled to be sentenced June 9. Do's attorney, Paul Meyer, said, 'It is inappropriate to make comment before sentencing.' Meyer earlier characterized the resolution as a 'blatant attempt to assert political influence in a federal matter,' and added it was 'reprehensible.' On April 14, U.S. District Judge James Selna approved a forfeiture order for Do that includes the former supervisor paying $1,702,640.86 from one bank account and $724,749.10 from another as well as giving up property at 14732 Candeda Place in Tustin and another property at 2410 W. 17th St. in Santa Ana. Do pleaded guilty to a felony federal bribery conspiracy charge on Oct. 31. His attorney worked out a deal that puts a five-year lid on Do's time behind bars. Do admitted in his plea agreement that in exchange for more than $550,000 in bribes, he cast votes starting in 2020 that directed more than $10 million in COVID-relief funds to the Viet America Society, where his daughter Rhiannon worked, according to federal prosecutors. Do faces up to five years in prison and his daughter, Rhiannon Do, will be placed in a diversion program as part of the plea deal.
