The Brief

One of the more striking aspects of the felony plea agreement signed by disgraced former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do was the involvement of his two adult daughters. Rhiannon Do, 23, made a deal with federal authorities to avoid prosecution for her role in a scheme to pilfer millions of taxpayer dollars meant to feed needy seniors. But little has been reported about Andrew Do’s other daughter, who also played a role in the fraud conspiracy, according to her father’s plea agreement.

Andrew Do’s elder daughter, Ilene Do, is not mentioned by name in the federal documents accompanying his guilty plea to a felony bribery charge, which he entered in late October.

At a news conference announcing the plea agreement, O.C. District Attorney Todd Spitzer said bribe payments had been made “to both of [Do’s] adult daughters.”

What federal documents say about Do’s other daughter

The plea agreement and accompanying documents signed by Andrew Do state that more than half a million dollars in taxpayer funds received by a nonprofit were funneled back to Do’s daughters. “DO Relative #1 and DO Relative #2 were defendant DO’s daughters,” federal prosecutors wrote.

The documents state that in addition to the money funneled to Rhiannon Do, Andrew Do’s “other daughter” also received $100,000 in taxpayer money as part of the bribery scheme.

It’s unclear whether authorities have taken or will take any action against the daughter identified as Relative #2 in the charging document and plea agreement. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Andrew Do would be responsible for paying back the $100,000 paid to Relative #2 as part of his restitution.

Dave Wiechert, an O.C.-based criminal defense lawyer who is representing Rhiannon Do, told LAist he is also representing Ilene Do. But he declined to comment for this story. LAist tried to reach Ilene Do via email and separate work and personal cell phone numbers for comment but did not receive a response.

So here’s what we know:

The documents state that Andrew Do’s co-conspirators agreed to pay bribes to the former supervisor through financial payments and favors to his daughters, including a total of $100,000 in payments to Relative #2.

The plea agreement details that four $25,000 checks went to Relative #2, “in exchange for defendant [Andrew Do] agreeing to steer, steering, agreeing to vote for, and voting in favor of the County contracts with VAS.” VAS stands for Viet America Society, the nonprofit at the center of a federal criminal case and an LAist investigation that uncovered public records showing Do directed more than $10 million in unaccounted for taxpayer funds to the group. The organization was founded by Peter Pham.

This past summer, county officials sued VAS, Peter Pham, Rhiannon Do and other leaders of the nonprofit, accusing them of an “illegal and fraudulent scheme” to divert federal COVID dollars that then-Supervisor Do directed to the group.

At least half of the taxpayer money given to Ilene Do was paid out in September and October 2022 in the form of deposits to her Citibank account, according to the federal documents.

Three of the checks to Relative #2 came from an air conditioning company that “Co-Conspirator #1” used to “funnel” bribes to the Do family, and one came directly from Co-Conspirator #1, according to the documents. Peter Pham’s attorney wrote in an October court filing that Peter Pham is Co-Conspirator #1.

Neither Peter Pham nor Ilene Do has been publicly charged in connection with the bribery scheme.

Some background basics

Ilene Do is the elder daughter of Andrew Do and Cheri Pham, the assistant presiding judge of Orange County Superior Court.

Ilene Do is in her late 20s. According to her public LinkedIn profile and other sources, here’s what we know about her school and work history:

Ilene Do earned her bachelor’s degree from Cal State Fullerton in 2018, according to her LinkedIn profile. Her profile also lists the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority and Accounting Society as activities during her time at the university.

In 2021, she enrolled in an online master’s degree program in public administration offered by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was enrolled for two years, but did not complete the program, according to a university spokesperson.

Ilene Do once worked at a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Santa Ana, according to her LinkedIn profile. She started when she was 17, according to a former colleague at the coffee shop, Hannah Walker.

Walker said Ilene Do’s mother, Pham, was a regular at the coffee shop and had first inquired about a potential job for her daughter, who Walker said was getting ready to graduate from Beckman High School in Tustin. Ilene Do got the job, and worked there for nearly four years, according to her LinkedIn.

Home life

Walker said she became close to Ilene and would visit her and her family at their Tustin home. That location is noteworthy — Andrew Do was accused in multiple complaints to state and local authorities during his time in office of illegally living outside of District 1 where he was elected to represent residents on the O.C. Board of Supervisors.

He and Cheri Pham’s North Tustin home is in supervisorial District 3. They also owned a home in Westminster, which is located in District 1. According to Zillow and other public real estate websites, they sold the Westminster home in late August, days after federal agents searched their North Tustin home and a nearby home owned by daughter Rhiannon Do. The residency complaints against Andrew Do never resulted in criminal charges.

Walker described Ilene Do as “bubbly” and “sarcastic” with “a dry sense of humor.” She said Ilene Do was very proud of her sorority — “she talked about it all the time,” Walker said — and proud to be part of a prominent political family.

She remembered, some years back, Ilene Do being excited about the chance to appear on a float with her father — then one of Orange County’s most powerful elected officials — at a Tet Festival in L.A. County. She also remembered Ilene Do saying she “very much wanted to intern for the FBI.”

Recent work history

Ilene Do worked at the federal Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General from 2018 to 2020 as an investigative analyst, a spokesperson for the office confirmed. Her LinkedIn profile states that she “investigated fraudulent activities within the healthcare industry” at her job there.

Then, in 2021, Ilene Do began work as a customer engagement coordinator at Moulton Niguel Water District, according to the public employee salary database Transparent California and her LinkedIn profile. The Moulton Niguel Water District provides water and wastewater services to 170,000 customers in south O.C. Moulton Niguel has a little over 200 employees, according to a state Controller database.

It's also the same district where her father’s former chief of staff sits on the board of directors.

In 2023, Ilene Do earned $96,135 at the water district, according to the most recently available salary data from Transparent California. Compared to other jobs at the Moulton Niguel Water District, those wages are similar to those of an accountant or a senior electrical/instrumentation technician.

Ilene Do is no longer employed at the water district, Joone Kim-Lopez, general manager and CEO of the water district, told LAist in an email this week.

Andrew Do's former chief of staff Brian Probolsky has been an elected member of the water district’s board of directors since 2008. Probolsky was recently the focus of controversy swirling around the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA), the county’s green energy agency. LAist reporting found he was hired as the power authority’s CEO with no competitive process and no experience in the energy field. He was ousted from the job by the OCPA board in April 2023 after a series of damning audits citing lack of transparency in contracting, among other problems.

Probolsky won re-election to the water board in November.

Kim-Lopez, the water district CEO, had hoped to take over as CEO of Orange County when former CEO Frank Kim resigned last summer. Andrew Do was backing Kim-Lopez’s candidacy, according to a source who spoke to LAist on the condition that we not publish their name because the information was confidential.

Kim-Lopez confirmed to LAist in an email that she had applied for the job and said she didn’t know the status of the hiring process. She did not respond to an emailed question from LAist about whether Andrew Do had backed her candidacy.

Michelle Aguirre, the county’s former chief financial officer, is currently serving as the interim county CEO.

Andrew Do is scheduled to be sentenced in March on his plea to conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. Authorities say they continue to investigate the misuse of taxpayer funds directed by the former supervisor.

Nick Gerda contributed reporting to this story.

Catch up on the investigation

In November 2023, LAist began investigating how millions in public taxpayer dollars were spent. In total, LAist has uncovered public records showing more than $13 million in public money that was approved to a little-known nonprofit that records state was led on and off by Rhiannon Do. Most of that money was directed to the group by Supervisor Do outside of the public’s view and never appeared on public meeting agendas. He did not publicly disclose his family ties.

Much of the known funding came from federal coronavirus relief money.

• Read the story that launched the investigation: Top OC official helped direct millions to his daughter’s center without disclosing family connection
• Since LAist started reporting, we’ve also uncovered the group was two years overdue in completing a required audit into whether the meal funds were spent appropriately.
• And LAist found the amount of taxpayer money directed to the nonprofit was much larger than initially known. It totals at least $13.5 million in county funding — tallied from government records obtained and published by LAist. 
• After our reporting, O.C. officials wrote demand letters to the nonprofit saying millions in funding were unaccounted for. They warned the nonprofit that it could be forced to repay the funds.
• And, LAist found the nonprofit missed a deadline set by county officials to provide proof about how funding for meals were spent.
• On Aug. 2, LAist reported O.C. officials were demanding the refund of more than $3 million in public funds awarded by Do to VAS and another nonprofit, Hand to Hand.
• Six days later, LAist reported Orange County officials had expanded demands for refunds of millions in tax dollars from the nonprofits and threatened legal action.
• On Aug. 15, LAist reported O.C. officials sued VAS and its key officers and associated businesses, including Rhiannon Do. The lawsuit alleges that county money was illegally used to purchase five homes and was converted into cash through ATM transactions. 
• Then, on Aug. 19, LAist reported O.C. officials had announced a second lawsuit against Hand to Hand and its CEO to recover millions of taxpayer dollars that were directed by Supervisor Do.
• LAist broke the news on Aug. 22 that federal agents were searching Rhiannon Do's home in Tustin. Later that day, Supervisor Do's home, and other properties, were also raided.
• On Oct. 16, LAist reported that the wife of Supervisor Do's top aide was hired for a $275,000 contract. County officials say the work was never turned in and two days later LAist reported that a court filing confirmed a federal grand jury had been convened and subpoenas issued.
• Six days later, federal prosecutors announced Andrew Do had agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. They said Do accepted over $550,000 in bribes for directing and voting in favor of more than $10 million in COVID funds to VAS. He resigned as supervisor the same day.

How to watchdog your local government

One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention.

Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.

• Read tips on how to get involved.
• The next scheduled board meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 5. You can check out the O.C. Board of Supervisors full calendar here.
• Learn how to submit a public comment to the O.C. Board of Supervisors.

Joseph Babbitt of Springfield, Mo. has a pretty good deal when it comes to health insurance. He works as a senior financial controller for West Plains Veterinary Supply, which employs about 50 people and distributes pet food, toys and vet supplies across the region.

Like about 157 million Americans, Babbitt gets insurance through his job. Unlike most Americans, his job has exceptionally generous benefits. "Our owners are very nice — they give all of our employees healthcare and they pay for it," he says. The company offers several different plan options and covers most or all of the monthly premium cost.

So why, even with free premiums, does it still feel like health costs are way too expensive? "Everybody talks about healthcare and how much it's costing them," says Babbitt. He explains that even without monthly premiums, a high deductible can be brutal — that's the amount the patient has to spend out-of-pocket before the insurance company starts paying for doctors visits and procedures, etc.

Now age 60, he remembers a time when it wasn't so bad. "Back in the '90s, our deductibles were $250 [or] $500 — now they're $5,000," he says. "That seems like a lot."

"We are the only country on our planet that forces people into bankruptcy because they get sick," he adds.

The cost of a new car, every year

Healthcare costs are rising fast in the U.S., and even workers with solid healthcare benefits through work are feeling it, according to an annual survey of nearly 2,000 employers about their health benefits. The report was published Thursday by KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization.

"The average health insurance premium for a family of four is now $28,000, which is just a ton of money," says Matthew Rae, associate director for the Health Care Marketplace Program at KFF. "It's basically the cost of a new car every year just to keep a family of four insured." Of that total for family premiums, workers pay about $7,000 per year on average and employers pay the rest.

A glimmer of positivity is that the costs for plans isn't growing as fast as it has in years past, he explains. "We're seeing a 5% increase in family health insurance premiums, which continues a period of modest growth," he says. That increase is roughly on par with worker wages and inflation.

However, "a 5% increase on a big number is still a lot of money," Rae points out. Plus, the growth for the portion of the premium costs that workers pay was 9%. "If this is the beginning of a shift of costs onto workers, that would be a big deal in terms of affordability," he says.

"We are asking people to chip in a lot of money," Rae adds. "Many people are committing a big chunk of their income to health insurance."

The uninsured rate is rising 

Another report published Thursday demonstrates the way these high costs affect people's health. The survey, conducted every two years by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation that supports independent research, is entitled "The State of Health Insurance Coverage in 2026."

Even for workers fortunate enough to have health benefits, "about 43% of them said that they didn't get healthcare because of cost over the past year, and about 31% reported that they had medical debt," says Sara Collins, lead author of the report.

Another key finding was that the overall uninsured rate rose in the last two years. Collins says that's significant but not surprising, because of federal policy decisions like letting extra federal subsidies for people enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans expire, and people losing Medicaid after the pandemic emergency ended.

Federal data shows millions of people have lost health coverage already from either Medicaid or the ACA marketplaces. When work requirements take effect next year, millions more people are projected to lose Medicaid.

"There is a, I think, a strong feeling across the country that something probably does need to be done to the situation that people are facing in their health and health insurance — both on the cost side and then also on these coverage losses," Collins says.

"We asked people whether the federal government has a responsibility to ensure that all Americans have coverage and nearly three quarters said yes to that — that included about 45% of Republicans, 93% of Democrats and 76% of independents."

Copyright 2026 NPR

Mike Obedoza’s Lumpia Smash Burger begins with the flavorful marinade his mother uses for making lumpia, a crispy Filipino spring roll. He folds it into a beef patty, then tops it with a fried lumpia wrapper, creamy avocado slices and fresh jalapeño.

For Obedoza, who grew up in Carson as the son of Filipino immigrants and now resides in Tustin, the burger is more than a winning recipe. “This is me on a plate,” he said.

Fresh off back-to-back Best Burger wins at the Old Towne Burger Fest in Orange County, Obedoza has landed a residency at Grand Central Market in downtown L.A. as Banger Lumpia.

He attributes his current success to the broader Filipino American food moment happening in Southern California, from Lord Maynard Llera of Kuya Lord winning Best Chef: California at the 2024 James Beard Awards to other Filipino food business upstarts' local success, including San & Wolves in Long Beach.

Mike Obedoza works the griddle, making Filipino-American Smashburger dreams come true.

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Courtesy Banger Lumpia

)

“I’m one component of a whole movement that’s happening right now,” he said.

His residency closes this weekend as part of Filipino American History Month, capping off a whirlwind couple of months Obedoza doesn’t take for granted, especially the love he's received from his own community.

“We get a lot of Filipinos that pass by us glowing. … They’re stoked that there’s some Filipino representation,” he said.

Building the burger

Before Banger Lumpia, Obedoza’s pop-up was called Banger, and he folded Filipino flavors like sisig into tacos. Once customers learned the food was Filipino, they kept asking for the classics. “Where’s the lumpia? Where’s the pancit?” he recalled.

Since lumpia filling is marinated ground meat, a burger felt like the natural next step. Obedoza took the marinade from his mother’s lumpia recipe (onions, carrots, soy sauce and fish sauce) and worked it into an all-beef smash patty.

Back-to-back wins: Obedoza’s Lumpia Smashburger took home Best Burger at the Old Towne Burger Fest in 2025 and 2026.

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Courtesy Banger Lumpia

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Jalapeño and avocado add a California finish. “It’s like this perfect blend of being Filipino and Californian,” Obedoza said.

The idea has deep roots in Southern California. Obedoza points to Kogi, the Korean taco truck Roy Choi launched in L.A., which Choi said drew on a kind of local terroir. “I don’t see mustard plants and sheep grazing,” Choi said in a 2014 CNN segment with Anthony Bourdain. “I see barbed wire and telephone poles.”

“It’s a representation of the soil we were raised in," Obedoza said. “I think the Lumpia Smash burger is just my version of that.”

From skater to chef

Growing up in Carson, Obedoza found his creative outlet in rollerblading, competing and filming for sponsors. His favorite skater was Jon Julio, a Filipino American legend of the sport. “That was big for someone, a Filipino growing up in America,” Obedoza said. “I can’t think of anyone else at that time that was a representation of that.”

Obedoza studied hotel and restaurant management at Cal Poly Pomona, where a broken ankle from a skate competition pushed him to get serious about cooking. After graduating in 2007, he completed an accelerated program at the Culinary Institute of America in Greystone in St. Helena. Then, in 2008, he took a trip to the Philippines with his dad that reshaped how he saw himself.

From the skate park to the griddle, Banger Lumpia’s Mike Obedoza puts his whole self on the plate.

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Courtesy Banger Lumpia

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“In the States, I’m Filipino. But when I go there, I’m American,” he said.

Back home, he cooked at hotels including Hyatt and Terranea Resort before moving into marketing and e-commerce. In 2022, he started serving tacos at skate parks under the name Banger. He went full-time in 2023 and has been popping up in L.A. and O.C. ever since.

That same cultural tension carries over into his food. While his Lumpia Smash burger has won praise, Obedoza says some Filipino customers pick apart the more traditional dishes on his menu: the lumpia isn’t made right, they say, the dipping sauce and adobo need more sugar, the adobo isn’t dark enough or has no bone.

“I guess I win on the burgers, but I’ll never win on being Filipino enough,” he said.

He said his cooking reflects his parents’ style and their home region of Central Luzon, north of Manila on the Philippines’ largest island. If it doesn’t match what someone grew up with, he says to get it from their own family.

Despite those differences, Obedoza says that lumpia is “the gateway drug to Filipino food” and hopes that his customers will feel emboldened to try the rest of the menu. He sees the Grand Central Market residency as a test run for an eventual brick-and-mortar. Whatever comes next, he credits one choice: “I went all in on being unique.”

Julia Feinberg feels like she’s living in a sinister version of Groundhog Day. For the second year in a row, California lawmakers have made it tougher for seniors and people with disabilities to qualify for state-funded health benefits.

Feinberg, 37, who has a degenerative neuromuscular disorder, said without Medi-Cal she would be confined to a nursing home rather than living and working as a therapist in Oakland.

“We keep having to have the same fight over and over and over again,” Feinberg said. She requires a power wheelchair and about 19 hours of caregiving each day, which Medi-Cal covers.

California is cutting Medi-Cal after a decade of expansion, part of sweeping federal and state cuts that experts estimate will kick more than 2.2 million Californians off coverage in the next four years, doubling the state’s uninsured rate.

The latest cut came in June, when state leaders approved a budget that will lower the asset limit for low-income seniors and people with disabilities to $21,000 to qualify for Medi-Cal, starting in July 2027. Feinberg, who has built up emergency savings, will have to spend about $10,000 to get under the cap.

In 2024, the state eliminated longstanding Medi-Cal asset limits, but since then lawmakers have chipped away at that policy. At the beginning of this year, state leaders reinstated an asset limit of $130,000, and the June budget lowered it further.

A primary residence and one vehicle are exempt from the new limit, but people 65 and older as well as those with disabilities cannot own a second home or car, and they can’t have more than $21,000 in savings accounts, certain retirement accounts, life insurance policies or even burial plots. They must still meet Medi-Cal income eligibility limits of about $1,800 a month for a single person.

Advocates say the rules unfairly target older people and those with disabilities.

“It’s really expensive to be disabled,” said Elizabette Guéçamburu, 44, who like Feinberg has spinal muscular atrophy and requires a power wheelchair as well as daily caregiving.

Guéçamburu said she’s saving up for a used wheelchair-accessible van, which costs about $75,000. Home modifications such as adding ramps and making bathrooms accessible also cost tens of thousands of dollars, none of which are covered by Medi-Cal. Guéçamburu said those expenses would be impossible to afford if she couldn’t save.

Guéçamburu lives on her family’s farm in Patterson where they grow walnuts, almonds and alfalfa. She works part time as the farm’s bookkeeper. In 2024, doctors diagnosed Guéçamburu’s father with prostate cancer, and he could no longer act as her caregiver. The same year, California eliminated asset limits for people with disabilities and seniors — Guéçamburu cried, able to qualify for Medi-Cal for the first time.

“The timing was a godsend,” she said.

Now, her aging father is unable to take care of her should she lose Medi-Cal, and Guéçamburu is struggling to figure out what to do with money left to her by her grandmother. She’ll likely have to put it into a special needs trust controlled by a family member and give up financial independence. She also had her family strike her from inheriting any portion of their 100-year-old farm. Private home care costs thousands of dollars a month, making it hard for lower- and middle-income people to pay for it out-of-pocket.

“I have to surrender our legacy just to have medical security and have the ability to live my life,” Guéçamburu said.

Asset limit flip-flop

Gov. Gavin Newsom eliminated Medi-Cal asset requirements in 2024 after a yearslong campaign by senior and disability rights advocates. In a statement before the elimination, Newsom said he was proud of the “bold investments” his administration was making to “protect life savings and homes.”

But two years later, faced with a $12 billion budget shortfall, Newsom proposed reinstating the former $2,000 limit, arguing that more than twice as many people enrolled as previously estimated. The Legislature opposed that proposal and compromised at the current higher limit of $130,000, lowering it again to $21,000 starting next July.

Lindsay Imai Hong, California director for Hand In Hand, an advocacy group supporting families that need caregiving, said organizers are looking to the next governor for change.

“We would love to see the asset test permanently taken off of the chopping block,” Imai Hong said.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton said in a statement to CalMatters that he opposes asset limits. He criticized the state for extending other Medi-Cal benefits beyond what it could afford, including coverage for immigrants without legal status.

“Seniors and people with disabilities shouldn’t lose their coverage because they’ve managed to save some money. They’ve done the responsible thing. Why punish them for it?” he said.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate and front-runner Xavier Becerra did not answer specific questions about the asset limit policy, but a campaign spokesperson blamed the Trump administration’s federal cuts for “squeezing” California’s Medi-Cal program.

Becerra will be “focused on protecting access to care and demand savings that are real, measurable and sustainable,” spokesperson Johnathan Underland said. On the campaign trail, Becerra has called himself California’s next “healthcare governor” and has previously floated raising taxes to reverse Medi-Cal cuts, but has not released detailed health policy plans.

Camille Nguyen, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, said most people who struggle to stay under the limit have little financial security.

“They have all of their life savings in cash savings instead of a house. That's their retirement. That is the amount they are expecting to live off of for the rest of their life,” Nguyen said.

State data shows about 600 people lost Medi-Cal when California reinstated the $130,000 limit. Advocates expect many more to lose Medi-Cal at the lower limit, but the state never released budget estimates before lawmakers approved the $21,000 limit. If the state reinstated the much lower $2,000 limit, the Department of Finance estimated 62,000 seniors and people with disabilities would lose Medi-Cal over two years.

Limit fuels anxiety, anger among people with disabilities

Feinberg said the prospect of losing Medi-Cal is especially scary because she would also lose access to a special disability program that pays for extra caregiving hours and has a multiyear waitlist. Caregivers help Feinberg get in and out of bed, dress and prepare her meals.

Before the limit was erased in 2024, Feinberg said she checked her bank account every day to make sure the balance was low. At the time, Feinberg was a graduate student and did not earn very much money. Now, as a licensed therapist Feinberg has been able to squirrel away some money.

“I don’t want to spend down that money. I want to save that for retirement, maybe buying a house in the future,” Feinberg said. “The prospect of not being able to have a nest egg is very unsettling.”

Guéçamburu said she’s angry and frustrated that the state views services for people with disabilities as expendable.

“It’s exhausting to have to justify your existence every legislative cycle,” she said.

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.