One of the companies accused of scheming with former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do to misuse public pandemic funds for personal gain is now suing him and his daughters, demanding $15 million for what they say are false accusations of bribery made by Do in his plea agreement.
The demands come in a cross-complaint filed Monday by Aloha Financial Investment Inc. in the county’s lawsuit against Do and others who are accused of misusing county-administered COVID-relief funds for a meals program for the needy.
The company did business under the name Perfume River Restaurant and Lounge in Westminster and was contracted by Viet America Society to complete a county-funded meals program. The complaint portrays the organization as a victim that has been financially damaged by Do’s “evil intent.”
Thu Thao Thi Vu is the president and owner of Aloha Financial Investment Inc. The complaint alleges that Aloha Financial Investment Inc. thought that the $381,000 it paid Do and his daughter, Rhiannon, was a loan and not a bribe that was used by Rhiannon for a down payment on a house in Tustin.
Do insisted that VAS get Aloha to issue a loan to Rhiannon so that the former supervisor could benefit from the contracts he steered to VAS, the complaint said.
In escrow papers, Rhiannon told loan officers that the money was a gift to secure the purchase as a straw-buyer for her father, the complaint said.
Rhiannon Do did not make any repayment on the loan and Aloha is asking that it now be repaid.
The federal government seized bank accounts and property in Santa Ana owned by Aloha Financial Investment Inc. and Vu.
The seizure was derived from Do’s “unsubstantiated claims that Aloha and Vu were connected to his actions which created the bribes,” the complaint said.
“Aloha and Vu have never met Andrew Do nor have any personal dealings with Andrew Do,” the complaint said.
Aloha Financial Investment Inc. wants $15 million to compensate for damages it incurred.
Do was sentenced in June to 60 months in prison after admitting he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. A restitution hearing to determine how much Do must repay the county is set for Aug. 11, a few days before he heads to prison.
Do’s attorney, Eliot F. Krieger, responded: “It would be inappropriate to comment at this point.”
An attorney for Rhiannon Do did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
HPT Realty is also being sued by Aloha Financial Investment Inc. The complaint accuses Philip Vu Nguyen, an agent with HPT Realty and Finance, of aiding Rhiannon Do and receiving commission “for the assistance and completion of the fraudulent transaction in which loan documents were falsified.”
HPT Realty and Finance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors in an indictment of VAS’s leader, Peter Pham, alleged that money was laundered through an Aloha Financial Investment Inc. bank account.
Aloha Financial Investment Inc. received millions in checks collectively between Pham and Nguyen using county funding, prosecutors described in the indictment.
Prosecutors in the indictment said Aloha Financial Investment Inc. received millions in checks collectively from Pham and another co-conspirator using county funding.
That indictment said Pham used $150,000 of county money that was first laundered through an Aloha Financial Investment Inc. bank account to help him buy a home in Garden Grove.
A judge last month ruled that the county’s civil lawsuit could move forward toward a possible trial. The next hearing is set for October.