SANTA ANA — Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen Monday accused her predecessor, Andrew Do, who is awaiting sentencing for a bribery scheme, of draining the district's budget for events, forcing the cancellation of the county's annual Tet Festival.


What You Need To Know

  • Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen Monday accused her predecessor, Andrew Do, of draining the district's budget for events, forcing the cancellation of the county's annual Tet Festival

  • Do is awaiting sentencing for a bribery scheme

  • Nguyen accused Do of spending $152,250 from the district's $200,000 budget on the Moon Festival Sept. 14 in Fountain Valley

  • Do admitted in a plea deal 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-19 relief funds to the Viet America Society, where his daughter Rhiannon worked,

But Do's attorney, Paul Meyer, said Nguyen got her facts wrong in a statement about the festival spending.

Nguyen accused Do of spending $152,250 from the district's $200,000 budget on the Moon Festival Sept. 14 in Fountain Valley.

"He spent almost everything he had before the newly elected supervisor could be seated, making sure the county couldn't give constituents a Tet Festival celebration in February," Nguyen said.

"This is another egregious example of Andrew Do putting himself above the needs of the community. Thankfully, federal prosecutors have uncovered his illegal personal enrichment schemes and we are investigating much more."

Do admitted in a plea deal 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-19 relief funds to the Viet America Society, where his daughter Rhiannon worked, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Do is scheduled to be sentenced March 31.

Nguyen accused Do, as he was the focus of the federal probe, of spending 10 times more on last year's Moon Festival than in prior years. She said $20,696 was spent on the festival in 2022, $44,509 in 2023 and $152,250 last year.

She added that $60,000 was spent for entertainment with 2TMedia, $30,000 for advertisements with Radio Bolsa, $9,585 for mailers and banners with DTN Tech and $50,000 for sound and lighting with Premier Production, which she said was owned by Robert Pham.

Nguyen claimed Robert Pham was the brother of Peter Pham, whose Viet America Society was sued by the county alleging misappropriation of millions of dollars allocated for meal deliveries to needy residents during the pandemic, which the nonprofit has denied.

"We respectfully ask that Supervisor Nguyen immediately correct the blatant defamation of Robert Pham, who is in no way related to Peter Pham or Viet America," Do's attorney Meyer said. "We regret that constituents may be misled by this harmful misrepresentation.

"We also regret Supervisor Nguyen's apparent confusion of the 2024 spending for an entire year of events with the single festival. Andrew Do has openly admitted and apologized for his actions leading to the federal indictment. We regret that this admission is being used for political purposes by Supervisor Nguyen."

Nguyen said she will call for the county to investigate the expenditures for the festival. She added that she was left with $14,900 for community events until the next fiscal year starting July 1.

"The Tet Festival commemorates our culture and it is one of the most important events of the year," Nguyen said. "I'm saddened and outraged that the county cannot host this celebration like in past years because of the actions of Andrew Do and his selfishness."