Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2024. It was the board's first board after federal agents searched the home of Supervisor Andrew Do.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento is calling for an “independent third-party forensic audit” of all contracts “directed or influenced” by former Supervisor Andrew Do.
Why now? The Board of Supervisors is set to vote on the item at Tuesday’s meeting.
How we got here: Do resigned from his position last month, shortly after federal prosecutors said the longtime elected official had agreed to plead guilty in a conspiracy to steal millions of dollars meant to feed needy seniors. Since last November, LAist has uncovered how Do directed county contracts and millions of taxpayer dollars to a nonprofit, Viet America Society (VAS), linked to his daughter, Rhiannon Do. The money was meant to feed seniors during the pandemic and to build a Vietnam War memorial. Federal prosecutors say just 15% of the money earmarked for meals was actually used for that purpose.
What the audit will do: Through the external audit, Sarmiento wants an outside firm to investigate all aspects of county contracts, including how vendors were selected, if bidding processes were competitive, and if vendors were evaluated. He also wants the firm to look into the contract management process to ensure vendors were complying with county processes, as well as checks and balances.
Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento is calling for an “independent third-party forensic audit” of all contracts “directed or influenced” by former Supervisor Andrew Do. The Board of Supervisors is set to vote on the item at Tuesday’s meeting.
Sarmiento said the audit would show if Do’s actions were an isolated problem or a systemic issue at county government.
Do resigned from his position last month, shortly after federal prosecutors said the longtime elected official had agreed to plead guilty in a conspiracy to steal millions of dollars meant to feed needy seniors. Since last November, LAist has uncovered how Do directed county contracts and millions of taxpayer dollars to a nonprofit, Viet America Society (VAS), linked to his daughter, Rhiannon Do. The money was meant to feed seniors during the pandemic and to build a Vietnam War memorial. Federal prosecutors say just 15% of the money earmarked for meals was actually used for that purpose.
What will the audit do
Through the external audit, Sarmiento wants an outside firm to investigate all aspects of county contracts, including how vendors were selected, if bidding processes were competitive, and if vendors were evaluated. He also wants the firm to look into the contract management process to ensure vendors were complying with county processes, as well as checks and balances.
The firm will also be tasked with reviewing “procurement and compliance policies / procedures and reform efforts and benchmark against industry best practices.”
“As a Board, we were faced with the former Supervisor’s unethical conduct and had few remedies to hold him accountable, rather than simply condemning his behavior. It was very frustrating that we did not have more options to address the issue,” Sarmiento said in a statement to LAist.
What are some reforms the board has already implemented
County officials are currently reviewing all contracts, including those funded by federal COVID dollars, after Orange County supervisors directed them to do so in September. They were given 90 days to come back with their findings.
The review is to "ensure all oversight measures are in place for contracts, large and small, and that there is compliance," Supervisor Katrina Foley said at the time.
Supervisors’ also voted in September to update the current contract policy manual to bring the county in line with AB 3130, a new bill signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom that will require county supervisors across the state to disclose any family ties they have to a nonprofit’s employees or officers before awarding any contracts. The new law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2025, and was inspired by LAist’s reporting.
At the last supervisors’ meeting, Sarmiento asked county officials to specifically include a review of a contract with DTN Tech (DTN) after an LAist investigation found Rep. Michelle Steel awarded the vendor $1.2 million in taxpayer meal funds at the same time it was printing her campaign mailers.
Anaheim set a precedent
If the Board of Supervisors vote to go ahead with hiring an external firm to audit county contracts, they will be following in the footsteps of the city of Anaheim. Officials there hired the legal firm JL Group to demonstrate transparency and restore public confidence after the FBI revealed it was investigating former Mayor Harry Sidhu and other key Anaheim figures for corruption.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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