A nonprofit group affiliated with Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do’s daughter has until next week to provide documentation to county officials proving it spent $4 million in tax money to feed shuttered seniors.
County officials, last month, gave Viet America Society 30 days to show how it spent the money directed by Do to the organization or potentially face a demand to pay back the funds.
There are two county contracts at issue, both for nutrition programs and using federal pandemic relief money. The county has notified Viet America Society through a series of letters that it has failed to provide the required documentation showing the money was properly spent.
The county said documents filed May 17, 2023, by Viet America Society did not completely lay out the number of meals delivered, number of participants served, participant eligibility, or weekly and monthly performance evaluations.
The county letters say Viet America Society did not maintain proper accounting records of all funds received under the contracts, and lacked an audit required by the federal government because the organization spent more than $750,000.
The letters also says OC Community Services has requested federally required single audit reports from Viet America Society at least nine times between September 2023 and January 2024, but has yet to receive them.
The county wrote that the nonprofit has failed in its contractual obligations to prove how many meals were provided and where the money went.
Do directed the money from his First District office’s discretionary funding to Viet America Society without publicly disclosing the relationship of his daughter, Rhiannon Do, to the nonprofit – which is not a violation of state law or county policy. Rhiannon Do is listed in multiple federal and county documents as either a president or vice-president of the nonprofit and also sits on the charity’s board, along with Peter Pham, who has also been listed as president, and one more…
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