Former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do pleaded guilty Thursday to taking more than $550,000 in bribes in exchange for votes he cast while serving on the Board of Supervisors that passed more than $10 million in COVID relief funds to a nonprofit where his daughter worked.
Do resigned from his seat on the board as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of conspiracy to commit bribery. He faces a prison sentence of up to five years and will be sentenced on March 31.
KCAL News
Beginning in 2020, he took bribes to cast votes, funneling millions of dollars in COVID relief money to the Viet America Society, where his daughter Rhiannon worked. After going to the nonprofit, the money was then forwarded to an unnamed third-party company that made $8,000 to Rhiannon Do every month — for a total of $224,000 by February 2024.
More than $380,000 was transferred by that company to an escrow company, prosecutors said, and the regulator’s daughter used that money to buy a $1 million home in Tustin. In total, Do and his family received more than $700,000 in bribes, said Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.
“The scheme essentially functioned like Robin Hood in reverse. Mr. Do and his conspirators stole money from the poor to give to themselves,” Estrada said at a news conference announcing the public corruption case.
Paul Meyer, Do’s attorney, released an apology statement on his behalf following the settlement announcement last week.
“It is appropriate to convey Andrew Do’s sincere apologies and deep sorrow to his family, to his constituents and District 1, and to his colleagues,” the statement said.
