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Smooth black granite covers two 20-foot-long walls and a 6 ½-foot high column in Orange County’s Mile Square Regional Park. The half-finished monument — with an initial $1 million price tag — is meant to honor U.S. soldiers from O.C. and their anti-communist Vietnamese allies who died in the Vietnam War. Instead, the construction site is a physical representation of an unfolding corruption probe.
County officials last month sued the nonprofit Viet America Society (VAS) saying it has failed to complete the memorial as required under a county agreement.
Supervisor Andrew Do had directed the $1 million in taxpayer funds to VAS in 2023 to design, build and maintain the memorial — without publicly disclosing his daughter Rhiannon Do’s role as an officer of the group. The lack of disclosure was not illegal, but has led state lawmakers to pursue transparency reforms.
The money was part of a larger pot of federal COVID relief funds at his discretion to give out. The county’s lawsuit alleges funds Supervisor Do awarded to VAS were diverted to help purchase properties worth millions for the organization's leaders, including Rhiannon Do. Federal agents searched her home in Tustin, her parents’ nearby home (her mother is Orange County Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Cheri Pham), and the homes of others named as defendants in the county lawsuit filed late last month. Andrew Do and Cheri Pham are not named in the county lawsuit.
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The lawsuit also alleges that Rhiannon Do, VAS’ founder Peter Pham and other individual defendants used VAS and the other organizations named in the lawsuit as "shell entities" in order to embezzle funds and shield themselves from liability. It also alleges the defendants commingled funds "to the extent that separation or segregation between these entities ceased to exist."
The defendants have not responded in any court filings yet. Rhiannon Do’s lawyer, David Wiechert, recently told LAist that his client is a "very honest, law-abiding, hardworking young woman. It’s our intention to demonstrate to the government the error of their ways if they think she’s done something wrong,” he said.
Mark Rosen, VAS' lawyer, has called the lawsuit “a disgrace” and disputed its claims that the nonprofit misused funding intended to build the war memorial.
The status of the memorial
Vietnam War Memorial in Mile Square Regional Park, Fountain Valley
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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Rosen initially said in a statement to reporters in mid-August that work on the memorial was done. After LAist visited the site and told Rosen it didn't appear to be finished, he then said the building was finished but not the artwork. He said the memorial was scheduled to be completed by mid-October.
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In early August, O.C. officials demanded VAS refund any money not spent on purposes required by existing county contracts — and then sued on August 15.
Rosen told LAist that the final memorial cost was $850,000 and VAS had cut a check to the county for $150,000, which he said accounted for any unspent remaining funds.
County officials said they received the check on Aug. 21.
The starkly different versions of where the memorial stands, and how those public funds to build it were used, are one part of a larger LAist investigation into more than $13 million in contracts awarded to VAS by Supervisor Do.
Rhiannon Do, who is a third-year law student at UC Irvine School of Law, did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Rhiannon Do has previously said she never served as a leader of VAS, which also did business under the name Warner Wellness Center. She has not responded to questions about why she was listed in top roles in 10 public records reviewed by LAist — including government filings by VAS and on the resume she submitted for her internship with the O.C. District Attorney’s office earlier this year, which LAist obtained through a public records request.
The empty seat of Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do who was not in attendance for the Aug. 27 Board of Supervisors meeting.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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Supervisor Do, who this week was stripped of committee assignments by his fellow supervisors, has not directly responded to numerous LAist requests for comment since late last year.
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Attorneys Paul Meyer and Craig Wilke, who represented former Anaheim Mayor Sidhu on federal corruption charges, are now representing Supervisor Do.
In an emailed statement to LAist they said: “Supervisor Andrew Do looks forward to a thorough and fair investigation. Out of respect for the process, there is no further statement that can be made at this time. We ask that judgment be reserved by all pending the completion of the investigation.”
LAist was the first to report on Supervisor Do awarding millions of public funds to a nonprofit where his daughter worked and has continued to break news on the unfolding investigation, which has now made national news.
To better understand the memorial contract, LAist has spent the last few weeks requesting public records, reaching out to memorial builders and architects, and visiting the memorial site in Fountain Valley on multiple occasions to try to answer the following questions.
- How did the memorial cost $850,000? Where are the receipts?
- Does the work adhere to industry standards?
- How will VAS pay for work needed to finish the monument now that federal authorities have frozen the organization's bank accounts?
Here's what we've found out.
Key findings
- The only permit filed with the county was for the two walls and central column, according to county public works files and officials. The valuation for the project, according to the building permit, was $17,310.72. That’s a tiny fraction, under 2%, of the million-dollar contract.
- The county has no other plans or permits on file for the project, such as landscaping, lighting, or grading. A lawyer for VAS says the organization plans to install eight 23-foot flag poles at the monument, at the organization's own expense. A county public works spokesperson said a permit for that work would be required and that there is not one on record.
- One local architect, who visited the site with LAist and examined the monument's plans and permit, estimated the cost to be no more than $185,000.
- Peter Pham, the founder of VAS accused in the county’s lawsuit of having “conspired to embezzle pandemic relief funds,” signed the county’s contract for the memorial and had multiple connections to the work being done on the project.
- Even if the park is unveiled to the public in mid-October — the timing given by VAS' attorney Rosen — it's unclear if the public will be able to see it. The entire park is scheduled to shut down for a years-long renovation on Sept. 23.
About the $1 million memorial contract
A mockup of the planned Vietnam War monument in Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley.
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Courtesy Mark Rosen
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The county's agreement with VAS for the war memorial was funded through $6.9 million in COVID relief funds awarded to Supervisor Do's district in September 2022. The agreement said those funds were "to be used, among other things, for non-profit organizations that support veterans, provide infrastructure projects, workforce and economic development, education, and arts-related programs." The memorial agreement was attached to the county’s lawsuit against VAS.
Under the agreement, the county pledged to give a one-time grant of $1 million to VAS within 10 days of executing the document, money earmarked to build the memorial. The county did not solicit competitive bids for the memorial design or construction. A formal bidding process is normally required for public works projects valued at more than $200,000, according to the county's Contract Policy Manual.
Peter Pham signed the memorial agreement on Sept. 27, 2023, listing himself as president of VAS. He is among four people named as defendants in the county's lawsuit alleging that public funds were “brazenly plundered.” LAist’s review of public records found he was connected to the monument project in at least three other significant ways:
- He is credited on the memorial as the designer and builder.
- He is listed as the project manager on the permit for the monument structure filed with the O.C. Department of Public Works.
- He is also tied to the contractor listed on the permit, Hua Development. Pham is listed as a contact for Hua Development on multiple county documents, as recently as 2020.
LAist called and emailed Peter Pham multiple times at the contact information listed for him on the memorial project permit but we were unable to reach him. He previously denied wrongdoing to the L.A. Times.
An expired contract, unfinished work
A screenshot from Andrew Do's video of his visit to the memorial site last year. From left to right, Dylan Wright, director of OC Community Resources; Supervisor Andrew Do; unknown; Peter Pham, president and founder of Viet America Society; unknown; Van Tran, Supervisor Do’s former chief of staff.
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Andrew Do's YouTube page
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Nearly a year ago, Supervisor Do posted a short video on his YouTube channel of himself reviewing plans for the memorial that features drone footage and multiple shots of the supervisor walking out to the largely empty site. In his voiceover, Do says the memorial is intended to be a "smaller version of the Vietnam War memorial in Washington D.C." and also a tribute to South Vietnamese troops and other allies of the U.S. in the failed effort to defeat the North Vietnamese forces.
LAist visited the memorial site six times over the past month, including on Thursday.
Previous statues investigation
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This is not the first time Supervisor Do has been involved with public monuments that raised questions. In 2022, the state campaign watchdog, the Fair Political Practices Committee (FPPC), found that Do failed to report $110,440 in donations made on his behalf to build three statues in Mile Square Regional Park, including of Ronald Reagan.
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According to the FPPC's investigation, part of the donations for the project were used to pay $20,800 for the construction of the statue of Vietnamese General Tran Hung Dao, which was unveiled in 2016. That statue credits Peter Pham and Le Dan Hua for the construction. Hua is the CEO of Hua Development, the same contractor building the Vietnam War memorial.
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Peter Pham went on to found VAS in June 2020, days after Supervisor Do and other county supervisors voted to create the pandemic meals program. Hua — Peter Pham’s business partner — has served as VAS’ president on and off since its founding, according to tax filings and other government documents.
The main structures specified in the building permit are in place, but the memorial remains surrounded by fencing and covered with tarps.
Shortly after we published the Aug. 21 story about the status of the monument, some work was done at the site. A plastic PVC pipe that previously stuck up from the ground in front of the memorial was removed, and rubber templates were added to one of the walls.
Conditions at the Vietnam War memorial in Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley on Aug. 20.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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In the last week, more work appears to have taken place, including sandblasting to add a map of Vietnam on the central column, which is designed to look like a torch. A sandblasted dedication was added on one wall.
According to documents LAist obtained through a public records request, it's now been eight months since the OC Public Works did its final inspection of the memorial construction. The county's agreement with VAS for the memorial ended on June 30, 2024.
The memorial is located on a grassy slope, some 20 yards off an existing paved pathway. County officials said no additional permits are on record for work to grade, landscape or light the area.
Rosen, the VAS attorney, said in an email that "other work such as the brass design and art etching take some time to finish because they are intricate artwork and more time consuming." He said the memorial would be equipped with solar-powered lighting.
How much did the memorial cost?
Work was also done on the etching of a dedication on one of the memorial's walls.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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An etching of the shape Vietnam was done in the last week.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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The county alleges in its lawsuit that VAS has failed to properly account for the millions in public funds it was granted through public contracts, including for the $1 million that VAS received for the memorial project. "VAS cannot account for where the money went, when and where it was spent, and/or whether it was spent on contract purposes," the lawsuit states.
So how much did the memorial actually cost?
Under the memorial agreement, VAS agreed to keep records of expenditures and maintain those records for four years. The agreement specifies that VAS must spend all of the funds on building the memorial. It also requires VAS to produce a report detailing those expenditures when the project is finished, or June 30, 2026, whichever comes first.
Asked whether VAS had submitted receipts for the project to the county, Rosen told LAist that "services related to the design and construction of the monument by VAS are accounted for through a proposed contract submitted by VAS and approved by the county." Rosen didn't respond to a follow-up question about whether he was referring to the initial $1 million county agreement with VAS to build the memorial. The county has not yet responded to a request for any receipts submitted by VAS for the project.
It's also unclear whether VAS had already paid for the unfinished etching and other artwork on the monument before returning $150,000 to the county.
How the site looked on Thursday, Sept. 12.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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LAist asked OC Public Works about the $17,310.72 valuation of the memorial walls cited on the county permit. Shannon Widor, a spokesperson for the department, said the figure represents the value of the structure, and is calculated per a county fee schedule based on cost per linear foot of construction. The valuation does not account for other costs, like design, artwork on the memorial, or other potential non-structural design elements.
LAist reached out to builders, architects, and other professionals in the building trades to try and get an estimate of how much the project might cost.
Steven Shepherd, a Huntington Beach-based architect, visited the memorial site with LAist in late August. He also reviewed the county permit and plans obtained by LAist. His estimate for the structures: around $185,000 or less — including design, material costs, labor, and lettering on the monument. "If they got a million dollars to do this, I would be really interested to see that construction estimate and see where that money went," Shepherd said.
Shepherd and other building experts contacted asked a lot of questions about the project that remain unanswered:
- Why wasn't the project — a civic monument in a public park — put up for a public bid?
- Did the builder or VAS initially submit an estimate of the project's cost? If not, how did they know it would cost $1 million?
- Are there receipts for the work done?
- Who chose the location of the project?
- Besides the one permit submitted to public works for the project walls and central column, did any other county departments review the memorial plans?
- Why did VAS return money before completing the work? One national monument builder LAist spoke with said that was very unusual.
Shepherd thought the location was appropriate — a public park in the middle of the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam.
"If you're going to do a Vietnam [War] memorial, this is probably a good place for it," Shepherd said.
More on the site
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Steven Shepherd, a Huntington Beach-based architect, who visited the memorial site with LAist in late August said it was unusual to see the granite-covered walls in place without having finished the artwork first in a controlled environment like a warehouse. He noted the walls could be susceptible to vandalism or to potential accidents if and when other elements of the memorial are built, like paving — or when the two-year park renovation project gets started in a few weeks.
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"You just don't take chances," he said. "You want to do as much of the dirty work as you can, then bring in your finished materials so that it's just perfect."
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LAist contacted five other building professionals, including architects and memorial-builders, about the project and shared with them photos, permit information, and notes we took on the plans filed with the county. Most agreed with Shepherd’s assessment that it was unusual to complete the artwork on the memorial on-site.
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Sandblasting can be done on-site, they said, but is usually reserved for smaller pieces of work, like headstones, or last-minute additions, like a missing name on a war memorial.
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The original 57,939 names on the Vietnam War memorial in Washington D.C. were sandblasted onto black granite by Binswanger Glass Company in Memphis, Tenn. before being transported to the nation's capital, according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the organization behind the famed memorial.
Will the memorial be finished?
The memorial site on Thursday.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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In late August, federal agencies suspended the bank accounts of VAS and its founder, Peter Pham. That makes it unclear how VAS will finance the work that remains to be done.
It's also unclear when the memorial will be accessible to the public — a major renovation project for that part of Mile Square Regional Park is scheduled to start later this month and take two years to finish. A spokesperson for the park told LAist the area will be closed during that time.
Rosen, VAS' lawyer, suggested that if the monument isn't ultimately completed, it wouldn't be the organization's fault.
"There may be political games at the county level to prevent completion and a dedication ceremony during Andrew Do's remaining time in office," he wrote in an email.
Supervisor Do is termed out in December and is facing continued calls to resign.
Catch up on the investigation
In November 2023, LAist began investigating how millions in public taxpayer dollars were spent. In total, LAist has uncovered over $13 million in public money that was approved to a little-known nonprofit that records state was led on and off by Rhiannon Do, the now 23-year-old daughter of Supervisor 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 here.
- Since we 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 we 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 it could be forced to repay the funds.
- And, we 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 Sept. 10, the O.C. Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to remove Supervisor Do from his committee assignments, including his role as a board member for the Orange County Transportation Authority.
Do you have questions or know of something we should look into?
We are here to investigate abuse of power, misconduct and negligence in government, business, and any venue where the public is affected.
How to watchdog 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 board meets on Tuesdays. The next regular meeting is Sept. 24. 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.
Updated September 13, 2024 at 11:40 AM PDT
This story was updated to add the detail that Peter Pham is listed as a contact for Hua Development on multiple county documents, as recently as 2020.
Updated September 13, 2024 at 11:04 AM PDT
This story was updated to add the detail that Peter Pham is credited on the memorial as the designer and builder.
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