$3.7 million recovered from Andrew Do scheme may support his ex-constituents
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As the Orange County Board of Supervisors discussed adopting a $10.5-billion budget, the question of where a sliver of nearly $4 million clawed back from a bribery scandal would go came into sharp focus.
Elected officials joined an influx of speakers who opined that money recovered by federal and local authorities after ex-supervisor Andrew Do’s conviction in 2024 should go back to his District 1 constituents.
“Millions of dollars meant for seniors, families, and those in need were stolen from them,” Westminster Councilmember Carlos Manzo told supervisors on Tuesday. “Do not take these funds from the residents again. Give this community back what was stolen.”
Results of the first phase of a forensic audit that was ordered to analyze county contracts between January 2019 and August 2024 confirmed Andrew Do’s corruption, superivisors said this week.
Do pleaded guilty to steering more than $10 million in federal pandemic relief funds for personal gain through a nonprofit connected to his daughter, Rhiannon Do. He also admitted guilt to receiving more than $550,000 in bribes from funds meant to provide elderly and needy residents with meals during the pandemic.
The county recovered an initial $3.7 million through bank account seizures and forfeitures as well as property sales, including Rhiannon Do’s former Tustin home.
The senior Do is currently an inmate at a high security federal prison in Tucson where he is serving out a five-year sentence.
Garden Grove Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein supported returning the funds back to District 1, especially as the city has recently endured a chemical leak disaster that temporarily displaced thousands of residents.
“I ask you to please consider allocating $500,000 that could be used to help our most vulnerable residents impacted during the evacuations and hazmat incident,” she told supervisors. “We have infrastructure and systems in place to deploy these dollars in a timely manner. Let’s ensure these funds come home to the communities that need them most.”
Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who won election to Do’s vacated seat, rallied support for sending the funds back to District 1 and claimed that some of her colleagues had already discussed distributing the money elsewhere.
“These funds were recovered in connection with the Andrew Do corruption matter,” she said. “[They] should be returned back to the benefit of the first district community that were deprived of the attendant services and public benefits.”
Supervisor Katrina Foley pushed back during Tuesday’s meeting on the notion that officials had talked about allocating the funds elsewhere.
“I don’t think we’ve had any discussion about where the money should go,” Foley said. “No one has weighed in on this yet.”
When supervisors ultimately discussed where to allocate the money, no stiff opposition to directing it back to District 1 emerged. But some debate ensued over which constituents were victimized.
Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento noted that District 1 boundaries changed in 2022 and no longer includes Santa Ana residents.
“I do believe that these funds need to go back to the constituents that they were intended to serve,” he said. “I just want to make sure that all those constituents are being addressed. I am supportive of making sure that those dollars come back to benefit the needs of the residents.”
Foley added that Huntington Beach elected officials and residents had spoken on the allocation issue, but were not part of Do’s district during the scheme.
In addition to Huntington Beach, Nguyen represents Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Los Alamitos, La Palma, Seal Beach, Westminster, Midway City and Rossmoor.
Nguyen argued that her current constituents were entitled to the funds.
“The key here is that the official county redistricting announcement says that the new supervisorial district maps went into effect on January 6, 2022,” Nguyen said. “The first district discretionary allocation payments occur after that date.”
Board Chair Doug Chaffee noted that after directing county staff, a final vote on the allocation would come at the June 23 supervisor meeting.
“I know there’s been some issue that originally that money went out during COVID when there were different concerns,” Chaffee said, “but we just had another kind of disaster, and there’s a special need now, so it’s parallel to that in a way.”
