Days before former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do is scheduled to be sentenced for a bribery scheme involving COVID-19 relief funds, federal prosecutors Friday announced the indictments of one of his friends and associates and another man in connection with the case.
The indictment handed down Wednesday was unsealed on Friday.
Peter Anh Pham, 65, of Garden Grove, is charged with single counts each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud bribery and six counts each of wire fraud and concealment of money laundering.
Co-defendant Thanh Huong Nguyen, 61, of Santa Ana, is charged with single counts each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and concealment of money laundering.
Federal prosecutors consider Pham to be a fugitive. Nguyen’s initial appearance and arraignment are expected to be scheduled Monday afternoon in federal court in Santa Ana. The 62-year-old Do is scheduled to be sentenced Monday morning.
Pham’s attorney, Dean Steward, told City News Service, “When all of this started — the initial search (warrants) — Peter Pham has always said, `I fulfilled all of my contractual obligations.’ He’s adamant that’s still the case. Let’s see what the government has proof for to say he didn’t.”
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement, “These two defendants are charged with conspiring with a corrupt politician to pad their pockets while the nation suffered under the weight of COVID-19. My office and our law enforcement partners will continue our efforts to prosecute individuals who cashed in on government aid intended to help those impacted by the largest public health emergency in a century.”
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, whose office helped make the cases against Do and the other defendants, said, “This conspiracy was a house of cards built on lies, betrayal and insatiable greed. Today’s indictments are another critical step in ensuring accountability — and consequences — for those who conspired to use the county of Orange’s COVID-19 funds as their personal ATMS — and to return those stolen funds to their rightful owners — the community for which these funds were originally intended.”
Pham operated the Viet America Society nonprofit while Nguyen led the Hand to Hand Relief Organization.
The indictment alleges that “Do would use his official position as a county supervisor to vote for millions of dollars in county funds to be allocated to his district, subject to disbursement at his sole discretion. He would then steer county contracts to defendants Pham and Nguyen.”
The indictment also alleges that “In exchange for bribes from defendant Pham in the form of payments to his daughters, (and two others not named), Do would again use his official position to advocate for VAS and H2H so county employees would approve contracts and beneficiary agreements between the county and VAS and H2H.”
The money received would not be used for a meals program for the needy but instead for other personal expenses such as rent and bills, the indictment alleges.
The indictment also incriminates the “significant other” of Do’s chief of staff, who goes unnamed, for receiving money from Pham “under the guise that (the chief of staff’s partner) was providing consulting services to VAS.”
The chief of staff “would then use his position in county government to assist VAS and H2H in obtaining county contracts, editing terms of contracts to make them more favorable to VAS and H2H, and helping VAS and H2H fulfill reporting requirements and get paid,” the indictment alleges.
Pham and Nguyen would “submit false documents” to detail how the grants were spent “claiming to have used all the funds, and all solely for legitimate purposes in accordance with the applicable contracts.”
A heating and air conditioning company was used for money laundering, prosecutors alleged.
“In total, during the conspiracy, defendants Pham and Nguyen unlawfully acquired approximately $12 million in county funds,” the indictment alleges.