Days after a Southern California county sued a nonprofit and three of its members for allegedly misusing funds meant for feeding the elderly, the defendants argued the claims contained factual errors.
In a lawsuit filed Aug. 15, Orange County officials alleged that four executives at the Viet America Society (VAS)—including County Supervisor Andrew Do’s 22-year-old daughter, Rhiannon Do—misappropriated millions of dollars to purchase homes for themselves.
“Instead of using these funds to assist the county’s most vulnerable populations, [VAS] and its officers and associates brazenly plundered these funds for their own personal gain,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants used these funds to finance lavish purchases that included real property and repairs and improvements on such property.”
The funds were part of federal COVID-19 relief money provided by the federal government’s American Rescue Plan of 2021.
The suit says five houses were purchased between August 2021 and May 2024, allegedly using taxpayer money—two for Peter Pham, the nonprofit’s CEO; one for Rhiannon; one for Dinh Mai, the nonprofit’s secretary; and one for Thu Thao Thi Vu, owner of Aloha Financial Investment, which was allegedly operating as Perfume River Restaurant & Lounge to prepare the food.
Mark Rosen, an attorney for VAS, said the accusations are incorrect. The suit alleges that Pham purchased a house in Buena Park with his wife in May 2023, but Rosen said that his client is not married and does not know the “wife” mentioned in the lawsuit.
“Peter Pham ... has never bought a house in Buena Park. So they must have looked up every Peter Pham in Orange County, and whatever that Peter Pham bought, that’s what they said my Peter Pham bought,” Rosen told The Epoch Times in an interview Aug. 19.
Pham did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, the county demanded the nonprofit return $2.2 million in awarded funds before Aug. 26, citing inadequate documentation of spending. Rosen submitted a letter and audit on Aug. 12 on behalf of the nonprofit denying any misuse of funds, and the county initiated litigation just days later.
“I’ve gotten no response, and they filed this lawsuit Aug. 15. They don’t want to hear what they don’t want to hear,” he said.
In addition to holding the defendants accountable for the alleged house purchases, Supervisor Katrina Foley said the lawsuit aims to recover all $10.6 million in awarded funds.
The calls for a refund received strong pushback from the nonprofit.
“The demand that VAS reimburse the county for every single cent paid to it is ill-advised and overreaching, and, frankly, outrageous,” Rosen said in the Aug. 12 letter. “None of the contractual provisions cited by you allow the county to demand a rescission or to receive a complete refund where the contractor has provided services.”
Rosen said the group continues to serve meals at 9200 Bolsa Ave. in Westminster six days a week despite the ongoing dispute with the county.
“My clients are still providing food under the county contract today,” he said. “People are free to go down and see what they do.”
According to the lawsuit, the county is demanding the nonprofit return all the money it received unless it can prove the funds were properly used. Additionally, the county has filed claims under the False Claims Act, which could require the group to pay three times the amount as a penalty.
“The taxpayers of Orange County expected these funds to be used for helping people during a crisis and for the individuals involved to have instead converted the funds for their personal benefit to enrich themselves is just unconscionable,” Foley told The Epoch Times Aug. 19.
In previous letters sent to the group asking for refunds, the county listed several examples, including a $20,000 donation to another group under a subcontractor agreement, which the county said lacked proper documentation.
“VAS could not provide an executed agreement and proof of approval to subcontract with Santa Anita Neighborhood,” a July 26 letter obtained by The Epoch Times reads.
In another instance, the group initially reported providing 20,000 meals per month but later revised the figure to 10,000 without documenting who participated in or dropped out of the program, according to the letter.
However, Rosen explained that recordkeeping faced challenges during the pandemic when physical contact was limited, which led to records not fully capturing the services provided by the group.
“At the beginning, they weren’t able to keep as good records as they keep now, because it was during COVID, and they had drivers who delivered the meals ... [but] couldn’t go knocking on doors to get signatures, because everybody was afraid of COVID,” he said in the interview.
“We forget today how frightening that was in 2020.”
Foley said the issue extended beyond collecting signatures from meal recipients. The nonprofit also failed to provide other essential documentation, including receipts, invoices, billing statements, and payroll records.
She added that even for new organizations, documenting their spending should be a basic requirement.
“I don’t buy that as an excuse for this particular nonprofit. There are many less experienced individuals who are helping the community [and] were able to keep track of their records,” she said.
Foley said she and Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento are also requesting an audit of all county contracts funded by COVID relief to ensure there was no misconduct.
Sarmiento’s office was not able to comment on the issue.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Donald Wagner said the county opted for litigation after receiving a negative response from the group.
“It’s a very aggressive lawsuit, but one that we think is appropriate in the circumstances,” Wagner told The Epoch Times Aug. 19.
Wagner said that while the Aug. 26 deadline for VAS to return the funds remains in effect, he is not optimistic about it. He added that the county hopes to see more evidence regarding the house purchases.
“If they want to give us the money back by Aug. 26, that probably makes this lawsuit go away. But I am not anticipating that happening,” he said. “If they are able to give us proof that the money was spent as required by the contract, and that this money on the houses is different money, then the county would be very interested in seeing that.”
However, in an earlier interview, Wagner said that it’s not uncommon for some of the county’s vendors to submit audits late.
“It’s not unusual that some of the smaller vendors that we use have not got robust or timely audit responses, and we deal with it in the normal course of things,” he told The Epoch Times on Aug. 7. “This one just is higher profile.”
The dispute attracted attention after the connection between Rhiannon Do and Supervisor Andrew Do was revealed. However, current law does not mandate the disclosure of such relationships by public officials.
Do did not provide a comment on the matter.
