The Brief

Former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do will be headed to the low-security Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc in Santa Barbara County in late summer. He was sentenced Monday to five years in prison on a bribery charge for receiving kickbacks from county contracts meant to pay for meals for needy seniors — a scandal uncovered by an LAist investigation and subsequent federal probe.

Is this the end of the story for Do and the corruption scandal surrounding his time at the pinnacle of the county’s power structure? No. Here’s a shortlist of questions that remain unanswered:

1. Will taxpayers get their money back? 

During Monday’s sentencing, Judge James Selna called for a hearing in August to determine the amount of restitution owed from the bribery scheme. The judge said Do and his daughter Rhiannon Do, who received hundreds of thousands in kickbacks from Do’s co-conspirators, will be jointly liable for repaying the restitution.

In Do’s initial plea agreement signed last October, both sides agreed that the restitution was “more than $550,000 and less than approximately $750,000 but recognize and agree that this amount could change based on facts that come to the attention of the parties prior to the sentencing.” The agreement calls for the money to be paid to the U.S. Treasury.

However, attorneys for Orange County, which Selna identified in court as “the only victim” of Do’s crime, say Orange County taxpayers should get over $11 million back from Do. That would cover the following, the county argued in a recent court filing:

• $10.3 million in contracts the county awarded to Viet America Society, known as VAS, whose leaders are among Do’s alleged co-conspirators, mostly for meals to feed seniors. Only 15% of the money for meals was used for its intended purpose, according to Do’s plea agreement. The sum also includes a $1 million county contract with Viet America Society to build a Vietnam War memorial in Fountain Valley, which was never completed.
• $800,000 the county says it has spent so far trying to recover the money, by supporting the federal criminal case and by filing its own civil lawsuit against Andrew Do, Rhiannon Do, VAS founder Peter Anh Pham and other alleged co-conspirators.

The judge set a hearing on the restitution question for Aug. 11.

Separately, the county is seeking to recoup funds through its civil lawsuits: against Do, VAS and its leaders, and against Hand to Hand Relief Organization, a group that subcontracted with VAS.

2.  What’s the status of the county’s civil lawsuits?

The county’s civil lawsuits against Do and his alleged co-conspirators are pending in San Diego Superior Court. Mark Rosen, a lawyer for VAS, Pham, and VAS’s chief financial officer, Dinh Mai, has refuted the allegations in the suit and argued that his clients can’t be forced to testify in the case, under the Fifth Amendment, because they’re facing, or could face, separate, criminal prosecution.

The judge in that civil case agreed to pause much of the fact-finding phase of the lawsuit until June 27, when a hearing is scheduled to decide whether to extend that pause. The judge is also expected to rule at that hearing on Rosen’s effort to get the case dropped against his clients. In a recent filing, Rosen claimed the county didn’t have enough evidence to proceed in its civil suit against VAS and its leaders, and was “trying to turn an accounting dispute into a fraud case.”

Then Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, at right, with Viet America Society founder Peter Pham in a video posted by Do’s official YouTube account.

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Then-Supervisor Andrew Do, screenshot via YouTube

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3. Will Peter Pham be brought to justice?

Pham, the Viet America Society founder, was indicted last Friday on 15 counts, including bribery, concealment of money laundering, and wire fraud. Prosecutors described him as "a friend and associate" of Andrew Do.

But Pham is considered a fugitive. Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney, told LAist that Pham had left the U.S. on a one-way ticket to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, in December 2024. McEvoy said he had no knowledge of Pham leaving the island nation since departing the U.S.

The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Taiwan, meaning it has no formal mechanism for requesting the return of a person, like Pham, facing criminal charges in the U.S. That doesn’t necessarily mean Taiwan wouldn’t honor a warrant from Interpol, the international law enforcement cooperation group. McEvoy said a warrant had not yet been issued for Pham “but we expect one will be issued,” he wrote in an email to LAist.

Meanwhile, one of Pham’s alleged co-conspirators, Thanh Huong Nguyen, was arraigned on Monday in Santa Ana and pleaded not guilty.

4. Will Rhiannon Do be allowed to practice law? 

Rhiannon Do, Andrew Do’s youngest daughter, was getting monthly $8,000 checks for her purported work for Viet America Society from September 2021 until January 2023. During that time, she was a full-time law student at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. She graduated in May.

As part of a “package deal” with her father’s plea agreement, Rhiannon Do admitted to filing a falsified mortgage application that disguised her use of taxpayer dollars to purchase a $1 million house in Tustin. She did not face criminal charges. Instead, the agreement called for her to be placed on three years’ probation through a pretrial diversion program, and to continue going to school, including studying for the State Bar exam, or find work.

She still faces allegations of fraud in the county’s civil lawsuit, and she’s jointly liable for paying restitution in her father’s criminal case as a “co-participant,” according to Judge Selna’s sentencing order.

If Rhiannon Do wants to practice law in California, she has to pass what’s known as a “moral character” review with the State Bar. The Bar advises students to submit their application early on in their final year of law school. The Bar has not yet responded to questions from LAist about whether Rhiannon Do has submitted her application.

When deciding whether to grant a law license despite prior misconduct by an applicant, the Bar takes into consideration the severity of the misconduct, whether there was more than one act, and whether there were any rehabilitation efforts, among other factors.

Lawrence Rosenthal, a professor at Chapman University Fowler School of Law and a former federal prosecutor, said the State Bar can interview Rhiannon Do and investigate her role in her father’s misdeeds. But he worries the Bar won’t have access to the government’s evidence against her, which could corroborate the allegations or clear Rhiannon Do of wrongdoing.

“Ms. Do would certainly be entitled to take the position that these are just allegations,” Rosenthal said. “She could say, ‘My father told me this was all on the up and up and I believed him.’”

McEvoy, the U.S. Attorney spokesperson, declined to respond to a question emailed by LAist about whether U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli would make sure the State Bar has access to evidence of Rhiannon Do's alleged criminal conduct.

5. Will anyone else be charged?

There are several people named in the county’s civil lawsuits who have not yet faced criminal charges, including Dinh Mai, the chief financial officer of Viet America Society, and Thu Thao Thi Vu, president of Aloha Financial Investment.

Aloha and its now-shuttered Perfume River restaurant, in Westminster, are described by the county, and by the federal government in its recent indictment of Pham, as pass-through firms that VAS allegedly used to divert taxpayer money for personal gain, including for the down payment on Rhiannon Do’s Tustin home. An LAist investigation also found that Vu was listed as a co-buyer on that home.

The U.S. Attorney’s indictment of Pham also alleges that a former chief of staff of Do “would edit the terms of contracts and beneficiary agreements [with Viet America Society and Hand to Hand Relief Organization] to make them more favorable to defendants Pham and Nguyen.” In exchange, authorities allege, the chief of staff’s fiancée and later wife “was paid tens of thousands of dollars for ‘consulting services’ by Pham and Nguyen.

A previous LAist investigation found that Josie Batres, the wife of Do’s former chief of staff Chris Wangsaporn, was paid by Viet America Society for consulting work in 2020 and 2021. LAist also found that Batres was paid $275,000 in taxpayer funds by a different nonprofit, Be Well OC, for work that was never turned in. After LAist published the story, county health officials demanded the nonprofit refund the money, which they did in November. Wangsaporn resigned from his position at the Board of Supervisors two days after LAist published the investigation.

6. Will there be further investigation into potential corruption? 

Yes. There are at least two probes underway into contracts handled by Do at county agencies over the years:

• CalOptima, Orange County’s low-income health insurance provider, has hired an outside firm to audit transactions approved while Do was on their board. 

• The Orange County Board of Supervisors is also preparing to hire an outside firm to conduct a widespread forensic audit focused on contracts that awarded pandemic relief funds. 

And there could be more. LAist has identified several taxpayer transactions approved under Do’s supervision that have raised concerns among local officials. These include the county’s contract with the firm 360 Clinic to provide COVID-19 testing during the pandemic, and a property deal signed by Do when he was chair of the CalOptima board that would have awarded extraordinary profits to a pair of prominent local businessmen.

Terry Rains, a Westminster resident and local government watchdog who was in court Monday for Do’s sentencing, told LAist she hopes local and federal officials will continue to investigate alleged corruption surrounding the once-powerful politician.

“I’m glad we got the max allowed for this charge and I’m not convinced it’s over yet,” she said.

With tensions already high in Minnesota after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer killed Renee Macklin Good, the Trump administration is ramping up the pressure on cities and states to cooperate with its immigration crackdown.

The administration had already surged federal agents — sometimes accompanied by military troops — to Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, Charlotte, Memphis, Washington D.C. and New Orleans.

Now the White House is threatening to cut funding for sanctuary cities. Here's a brief explanation of how local governments interact with federal immigration enforcement, and what the White House can and can't require from them.

A fight over federal money 

President Trump threatened this week to cut "significant" federal funding to sanctuary cities. He hasn't said exactly what money his administration wants to cut, though he gave a deadline of Feb. 1.

Nor has Trump said exactly which cities or states will be targeted, though the Department of Justice did publish a list of more than 30 cities, states and counties in August. (That list includes the state of Minnesota, though not Minneapolis or St. Paul or their respective counties).

In remarks on Tuesday at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump seemed to be focused on places that limit their cooperation with ICE.

"They do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens. And it breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come," Trump said. "So we're not making any payment to anybody that supports sanctuary cities."

This is not the first time President Trump has made a threat like this. During his first term, the president tried to withhold some federal funding from sanctuary cities. More recently, Trump signed an executive order nearly a year ago directing the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to make a list of sanctuary cities and withhold money from them.

But courts have sided against the administration in nearly every case, saying that the federal government cannot use funding to coerce state and local governments into changing their policies on immigration.

"Here we are again," U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco wrote in April. Orrick granted (and later extended) a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from withholding federal funds from 16 jurisdictions, including San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, St. Paul and New Haven.

"The threat to withhold funding causes them irreparable injury in the form of budgetary uncertainty, deprivation of constitutional rights, and undermining trust between the Cities and Counties and the communities they serve," Orrick said.

No precise legal definition of 'sanctuary'

There's no exact legal definition of "sanctuary city." But broadly speaking, the term refers to any city, state or county that limits its cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

The legal questions here are nuanced. Local law enforcement cannot block federal agents from doing their work but courts have said that state and city officers can withhold some cooperation.

The legal arguments are rooted in the U.S. Constitution and the division of powers between the federal government, which is in charge of immigration enforcement, and state and local governments, which run their own police and sheriffs' departments.

Courts have backed states that don't want to share data on residents in their records, including information about driver's licenses. And in many places, state and local law enforcement will not honor what's known as a "detainer request" from ICE, which essentially asks police to hold someone in detention until immigration authorities can take custody.

Local officials push back 

Virtually all the cities and states the administration has focused on so far are led by Democrats, who don't seem to be backing down after Trump's threat to cut federal money.

"This is just a threat to intimidate states like New York into bowing into submission. And that is something we'll never do," New York Governor Kathy Hochul said earlier this week. "You touch any more money from the state of New York, we'll see you in court."

State and city leaders argue there is a fundamental public safety rationale for their sanctuary policies. They say that working with ICE would undermine trust and cooperation between local law enforcement and immigrant communities as they seek to prevent crime.

There's clearly a political aspect to this as well. In many sanctuary cities, voters are asking Democratic leaders not to give in to the White House and its immigration agenda, so local leaders may have a strong incentive to dig in their heels.

Why local cooperation matters 

In the past, ICE has found that it's faster and safer to arrest people who are already being held in local jails. And that's one reason ICE was able to make so many arrests during the administration of President Obama, for example, before sanctuary policies were as widespread as they are now.

The White House says a lack of local cooperation is hindering its efforts to build "the largest deportation operation in the history of our country," a pledge Trump made frequently during his reelection campaign.

"Minnesota's 'leaders' have chosen defiance over partnership," the White House said in a statement on Friday.

But Democrats say the administration is deliberately creating confrontations in cities and states that are led by political opponents, provoking chaotic scenes on purpose for reasons that go beyond simply enforcing immigration law.

Copyright 2026 NPR

On a recent Saturday, a group of teenage musicians took to a stage inside an unlikely place: an unassuming unit in a business park at the bottom of Lincoln Avenue in Pasadena.

This space has a stage sitting on its concrete floor with the words "Backyard Party" playfully scrawled across the bottom.

The members of a band called The Wendolls sound checked with Matt Chait at the mixing board.

Backyard Party, one of the area’s newest all-ages venues, is the brainchild of Chait and fellow organizer Sandra Denver.

“The fires crushed garages where kids would have been playing. It burnt backyards where they would have been playing. It burnt down the schools where they would have been playing. So this is the communal backyard party. That’s specifically what we built and why we built it,” Chait said just outside the makeshift venue. The only thing that sets it apart from the nondescript units around it is a handwritten sign that says ‘No Ins and Outs.’

Chait, who was evacuated from his residence during the Eaton Fire, teamed up with Denver to manage the volunteer-run Backyard Party a few months ago. Her daughter sung lead vocals in a band called Sly, one of four bands on the lineup.

“We wanted to provide a space for all of the teen bands all around to come and play and help them create a kind of scene,” Denver said.

It’s the type of spot Denver said she wishes she had growing up in Phoenix, Arizona.

The tip box at Backyard Party

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Robert Garrova / LAist

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And she’s just one of several supportive parents here who are helping load in amps and guitars and bass drums.

Sixteen-year-old Jett Bizon is the drummer for Saints of Sinners, one of the bands on the bill. He said there’s another reason there are so many parents in the crowd.

“Well, nobody drives. Everybody needs a ride,” Bizon said with a chuckle.

With his long dark hair, Bizon explained that he’s already played some legendary local venues like The Whiskey a Go Go. But he said it feels like Backyard Party is becoming a much needed space for younger musicians in the area.

“We need to let out some type of energy and everybody’s putting it into music,” Bizon said. “I think it’s a great thing. Finally a scene again, it’s fun.”

As Bizon and his bandmates played their set of hard rock songs, the only people on their phones in the crowd were parents filming.

Some of the young folks taking the stage were affected by the Eaton Fire in one way or another. Some of them were evacuated. Others lost homes or saw their friends displaced.

Payton Owen was part of the crew running the door, taking tickets and dolling out snacks. She too is a musician and writes reviews of some of the concerts here.

“I think it’s amazing. I think it’s really like a point of community,” she said from behind a glass case filled with bags of popcorn and candy. “It’s a really nice opportunity for kids to really have somewhere where they can go.”

Teenager Elise Lamond agreed. She’d been following Chait around all night, learning how to set levels for the musicians, run the house lights and more.

“Most people at this age don’t have those kinds of opportunities,” she said, adding that, as a musician herself, she appreciated having free access to the venue’s music equipment, too.

Chait, who had a hand in running the now closed AAA Electra 99 venue in Anaheim and has been a musician since he was 12, said Pasadena and Altadena have a noteworthy music pedigree.

“I mean, Van Halen started in quite literal ‘backyard parties’ over on Allen. I think it lives here,” he said.

And Chait said he’s blown away by the new talent that’s come to this stage. For his part, he thinks it’s the start of a new scene that will balloon beyond Altadena and Pasadena.

Matt Chait going over the sound setup with Elise Lamond at Backyard Party.

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Robert Garrova / LAist

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“The fact that these kids who are now, let's say, 15-20 all lived through COVID and were very separated from each other. And now, in this particular neighborhood, are also separated again because of the fires. And they have supportive parents and now they have the physical place to be... All of the pieces of the puzzle are here,” Chait said.

For now, Chait said this is a labor of love. The space here is provided by Altadena Musicians, a non-profit that’s working to get instruments back in the hands of people who lost their gear in the fires. And as for ticket sales?

“It is the best part of running the venue: the end of the night, when we hand cash to these kids for playing,” Chait said.

Tonight’s bounty from a full-house? $320.

“There’s a couple of these kids, if they play one or two more times, we’re going to have to give them 1099s,” he said.

How to catch a BYP show

Backyard Party
1260 Lincoln Ave. #1300
Pasadena

For a calendar of upcoming shows, check out BYP’s website and Instagram.

On Friday, Southern California Edison filed lawsuits against Los Angeles County and several other agencies over their alleged roles in the Eaton Fire.

Two lawsuits were filed.

In one suit, the utility company alleges Southern California Gas delayed shutting off gas in the burn area for several days after the fire, making the blaze worse.

“SoCalGas’ design and actions caused gas leaks, gas fires, reignition of fires, gas explosions and secondary ignitions during the critical early stages of the Eaton Fire,” according to the suit.

The claim goes on to say this contributed to the spread of the fire and made firefighting and evacuation efforts more difficult.

In the second suit, the utility company alleges the Eaton Fire was made worse by the local government response, “including due to the failures of LASD, LACoFD, OEM and GENASYS in issuing timely evacuation alerts and notifications,” the claim reads.

The same filing says L.A. County was to blame for vegetation and overgrown brush in the Eaton Canyon area that fueled the blaze.

It also named the city of Pasadena and its utility system, Pasadena Water and Power, the city of Sierra Madre, Kinneloa Irrigation District, Rubio Cañon Land & Water Association, Las Flores Water Company and Lincoln Avenue Water Company as parties responsible for water systems running dry in Altadena as the fire broke out.

Edison says hydrants running dry compounded the extent of the disaster.

Those claims will be heard in the L.A. County Superior Court, which is also handling L.A. County’s lawsuit against SoCal Edison.

Edison itself is the subject of hundreds of lawsuits from survivors of the Eaton Fire, which could cost the company billions of dollars in settlements.

Edison has said its equipment likely sparked the Eaton Fire and filed these suits, in part, because it believes these various entities should share some of the blame for the disaster, which resulted in the destruction of thousands of buildings and the deaths of 19 people.

A compensation program Edison established for fire survivors who forgo suing the company has made settlement offers to more than 80 of those who applied.

A new organization is taking over production of the MLK Day Parade, almost 40 years after the first parade was held in South L.A. to commemorate the civil rights leader.

Bakewell Media, publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper (a partner of The LA Local), was granted the permit in September to organize the parade for the first time by the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. Formerly called the Kingdom Day Parade, the parade has been rebranded as the Los Angeles Official Martin Luther King Day Parade. The parade was previously produced and organized by Adrian Dove and the L.A. chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality California (CORE-CA).

With less than a week before the parade kicks off, LA Local reporter LaMonica Peters sat down with Danny Bakewell Jr., president and executive editor of the LA Sentinel, to discuss the details and what attendees should expect.

This Jan. 12 interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Why did you decide to produce the MLK Day Parade this year?

Bakewell: It all started because Adrian Dove, who was the previous promoter, had announced that he was retiring. When he announced he was retiring, LAPD, city council offices and other people said, “Hey, we still want to do the MLK Day parade. Would you guys be interested? You have the infrastructure to put it together.” And we said yes.

What’s different about this year’s production?

We’re going to start the parade with a singer performing “Lift Every Voice.” We’re going to play the message from Bernice King at the start of the show. Obviously, we have Cedric the Entertainer as our grand marshal to add the entertainment value, but the community has always been and will continue to be a major part of this parade.

Is ABC 7 covering the parade this year? 

It’s still going to be televised by ABC. We’re working diligently on how the show is going to be, but ABC has been a great partner.

What was the preparation for this parade?

Thanks to our corporate sponsors, we have a number of bands. The truth is, particularly in LAUSD at this time, and other school districts, they don’t have the funding to just get a bus and get here. I can’t say enough about Airbnb to Bank of America, all of our corporate sponsors, who are supporting all of the youth organizations.

Were there any unexpected challenges while preparing for this parade? 

This [The LA Sentinel office on Crenshaw Blvd.] is usually our command center during The Taste of Soul. It dawned on me last week that we’re going to be a mile away [from the parade route]. So, we made the decision to bring in a trailer to be our office at the corner of King and Crenshaw boulevards.

Any special guests this year besides the grand marshal?

I’m working on a surprise guest to be the singer for the national anthem. No matter what, we will give tribute to the Black national anthem “Lift Every Voice” as loud as we can next Monday.

What’s the long-term vision for this parade, if Bakewell Media continues to produce it?

We see the MLK Day Parade, and we want the world to see and expect to see this parade, the same way they see the Macy’s Parade, the Hollywood Parade or the Rose Parade. BET has come in this year as a partner. So there’s an opportunity to possibly do a national broadcast on BET. Not that we would lose our local television, but we see this as a major parade in this community and in the national African American community, celebrating the great work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So, we are very excited.