Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do was removed from all committees and boards by his colleagues on Tuesday as the embattled politician faces growing calls to resign amid a looming federal investigation.
The five-member board of supervisors cannot remove Do from his elected position, but it could remove him from committee assignments by a unanimous vote. The action was the first the board had taken against Do since it was revealed that he had directed and voted on millions of dollars in contracts for a nonprofit group linked to his daughter without disclosing his involvement.
Do has not responded publicly to mounting calls for his resignation from colleagues, local politicians and former supporters.
“Supervisor Do betrayed the people of Orange County, cannot represent our county on a regional level, and should resign immediately,” Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley posted on X shortly after the board's vote Tuesday.
Do was removed from positions he held with the National Association of Counties, the Orange County Corrections Association, the Orange County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, the Orange County Emergency Management Council, the Orange County Transportation Authority and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Do did not immediately respond to a request for comment through his staff.
Calls for Do’s resignation came after Orange County filed a lawsuit against a nonprofit, the Viet America Society, alleging the group and its top executives “blatantly looted” millions of dollars in taxpayer money.
“VAS cannot account for where the money went, when and where it was spent and/or whether it was spent for contractual purposes,” the lawsuit states.
The county’s lawsuit also alleges that VAS executives, including Do’s daughter, Rhiannon Do, pocketed more than $10 million in county contracts that were intended for VAS to feed the elderly and needy during the pandemic.
Instead, the suit alleges that VAS transferred money to its chief executive, Peter Ahn Pham, his secretary, Dinh Mai, and Do's daughter. The three then purchased properties in Garden Grove, Buena Park, Santa Ana, Fountain Valley and Tustin.
Rhiannon Do, a third-year law student, purchased a three-bedroom home in Tustin in July 2023 valued at $1,035,000.
VAS lawyers Pham and Do denied wrongdoing and claimed the organization was guilty only of sloppy record-keeping.
The attorneys have said the contracts to feed people during the pandemic were made and denied the allegations made in the lawsuit.
LAist was the first to report in November that Do had funneled millions of dollars into VAS during the pandemic without disclosing his daughter's ties to the group.
Days after the county's lawsuit was filed, federal agents from the FBI, IRS and investigators from the Orange County District Attorney's Office served multiple search warrants at the homes of Andrew Do, his daughter and VAS CEO Peter Ahn Pham.
Among the locations searched were homes that were allegedly purchased after VAS executives “looted” money from the county.
Andrew Do was not named in the lawsuit.
Federal officials have declined to provide details about their investigation.
