OC Audit: $500,000 Grant for Little Saigon Outdoor Dining, No Receipts for Half of It

Phase two of the Orange County forensic audit found COVID-era contracts steered without competitive bidding — and, per LAist, no documentation for how much of the money was spent.

A county report released on Wednesday, August 12, 2026 found that millions of dollars in COVID-era contracts and grants in Orange County were directed by former Supervisor Andrew Do and another top county official with no competitive bidding and little to no accounting of how the money was spent, according to LAist, which reported on the findings the following morning.

The clearest single example in the LAist account is a $500,000 small business grant. Do awarded it in May 2021 to Bridgecreek Realty Investment Corp. to expand outdoor dining in Little Saigon during the pandemic. The audit noted that the contract never required Bridgecreek to provide supporting documentation for how the money was spent — no invoices, no receipts. There is no documentation for how more than half of those taxpayer funds were used.

LAist reported that it left a voicemail with Frank Jao, the owner of Bridgecreek, requesting comment.

Warnings raised, and set aside

The audit also details numerous occasions when top Orange County officials were alerted to potential irregularities involving millions in county funds awarded to a nonprofit connected to Do's adult daughter, Rhiannon Do, and did not act. In one instance described in the audit, Clayton Chau, the former county health care director, reprimanded a subordinate for raising concerns and stated "that Supervisor Do was a lawyer and he would know if there was a conflict." LAist reported that Chau did not return a text or a voicemail message.

Frank Kim, the former Orange County chief executive, was also interviewed by the auditors. The audit said Kim was aware of the alleged conflict of interest but did not consult the county's top lawyer at the time, relying instead on assurances from Do's then-chief of staff, Chris Wangsaporn, that there was no conflict. Wangsaporn did not respond to a voicemail from LAist.

Kim spoke to LAist on Wednesday. "It's not an excuse, but that was a strange time," he said, adding of the pandemic and the audit's findings: "None of the processes were really set up to deal with emergencies." He said he had trusted the supervisors and senior county staff. "I never thought there would be fraud," Kim told LAist. "These were people I had worked with for a long time. I never thought they would do something like that."

What the board said

Supervisor Donald Wagner called for deeper investigation into what he described as "potential additional abuses of taxpayers' dollars." Supervisor Janet Nguyen, elected to replace Do, said Do and Chau had "scammed taxpayers in the most difficult time of their lives," and said the audit showed the county had "routinely bypassed its own rules" for contracting with outside entities. Supervisor Katrina Foley said the report exposed "deficiencies in oversight and accountability that the board continues to address."

The accountability question is still open

The report is the second phase of a forensic audit of major pandemic-era contracts ordered by the Orange County Board of Supervisors after the Do scandal. The outside firm Weaver is conducting it. Foley said the county must complete the next two scheduled phases to "uncover remaining problems, strengthen our controls, and protect taxpayers from corruption and abuse" — which is to say the corrective work is described as unfinished.

What the LAist account does not establish is what, specifically, changed in Orange County purchasing rules after 2021: whether documentation requirements now attach to emergency grants of this kind, or whether the mechanics that produced the Bridgecreek award remain available. That question is not answered in the reporting reviewed here.

Do pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge in 2024 after a more than year-long LAist investigation found he directed some $13 million in taxpayer funds to an organization affiliated with his daughter Rhiannon, then a student. Federal officials say at least $550,000 was rerouted back to Do and his two daughters as bribes, while just 15% of the money was used to feed residents. He is scheduled for release in June 2029, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors meets on alternating Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. at 400 W. Civic Center Drive in Santa Ana.