A disgraced OC politician involved both his daughters in fraud scandal. What we know

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.
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