The Vietnamese American community in San Jose was taken by surprise
during the holiday season by some disturbing public announcements about IRCC
and the Viet Museum.
Dec 12, 2024 - A terse
letter by the IRCC Board of Directors announcing the retirement of Loc Vu
as ED of IRCC effective January 2025.
The letter was without signature and sent through a surrogate by Hong
Cao, an ED of the Viet Museum
In response, Loc Vu sent a letter terminating Hong Cao as
ED of Viet Museum and dissolving the current board due to violations of IRCC bylaws.
Dec. 18, 2024 - The IRCC Board sent a letter to the public
claiming that Vu had handled IRCC funding for his benefit and committed
nepotism by suggesting his son-in-law be the ED of IRCC. This time, it was signed by Cuong Nguyen.
Dec. 20, 2024 - Vu’s lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter
to five people on the board claiming that they are in violation of IRCC Bylaws
and that their actions are illegitimate.
Dec. 23, 2024 - Loc Vu held an IRCC public forum with an open
invitation. None of his accusers were
present.
Dec. 28, 2024 - Tue Phan, an alleged board member, wrote an Op-ed piece doubling down on the accusations.
Jan. 6, 2025 - Vu’s lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter to Tue Phan demanding public apologies for making false accusations and public statements of libel and defamation.
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| 90th Birthday with Pattie Cortese and Hoang Mong Thu (Cortese's Facebook) |
A Brief History of IRCC
To have a better understanding of the public dispute and
what the few members of the IRCC Board are fighting for let us turn back the
pages.
Upon arriving in 1976, Loc Vu, 92, founded the Immigration Resettlement and Cultural Center (IRCC) to provide educational and social services to the thousands of Vietnamese refugees coming to northern California.
IRCC was established as a membership nonprofit
organization where members pay dues and participate in board member selection and
other activities.
The Viet Museum
also known as the Museum of the Boat People and the Republic of Viet Nam was
established by Loc Vu in 1990 as part of the IRCC. He sought
to build a collection dedicated to the experiences of the Vietnamese community
in the US. He sold his house and moved
to a trailer so that he could provide $150k in seed money to start the
museum.
The local Vietnamese community soon became involved with many donating items relevant to the experiences of refugees and the war itself.
In March 2006, the city entered an agreement with IRCC to
convert the Greenwalt House in Kelley Park to become the Viet Museum housing
and exhibiting his collections. The
museum is now one of the main attractions in the park with thousands of
visitors annually.
Blood Money and A Smearing Campaign
In August 2024, rumors were heard in the community about
the removal of Hong Cao as head of the Viet Museum. About three years ago, he was hired by Loc Vu
to help run the Viet Museum.
In early 2024, Loc Vu applied for and received a grant of
$55,000 from the county. Before the
grant was distributed, he was informed by the county that they received
complaints about his mismanagement of funds.
A few board members wanted the $55,000 grant that Loc Vu received
from the county to be under a new bank account under the control of Hong Cao. An email was sent by a few board members to
IRCC members worrying about the mental health of Vu and whether he is fit to
run IRCC.
In July, without Vu’s knowledge, Hong Cao had his name
added to the California Secretary of State's Statement of Information. Hong
Cao is now on file as the director and officer of IRCC.
Vu called a meeting and expressed his dismay at the treatment of the people he had trusted. He felt that Hong Cao and a few board members betrayed him and wanted to take over IRCC behind his back. He wanted to put Hong Cao on a 2-month suspension until the false information was clarified. According to an insider, a few board members headed by My Linh Pham and Tue Phan took the side of Hong Cao and told him that he had no authority.
A Summer of Heartbreak / Conflict Resolution Attempt
Vu had to deal with the county about the financial mismanagement charge. There was no proof of funding mismanagement. He had put his own money as a loan to IRCC to
keep it afloat during the lean time. He
had not received a salary for decades as confirmed by annual tax records
audited by a local accounting firm.
The nepotism charge was purposedly misconstrued since he only suggested his son-in-law, Minh Le, temporarily replace him as head of IRCC during this time of conflict while the board was looking for a replacement.
Minh Le, 72, is well known in the hi-tech industry as a
corporate management consultant and educator.
As a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum (ALF), he received
the 2024 John Gardner Award for his work to bring diversity, inclusiveness,
engagement, and respect to the community.
Senior Fellows of ALF are who’s who of the Silicon Valley corporate
world and political arena like Sam Liccardo, Cindy Chavez, etc.
The $55k grant was finally released with the approval of Supervisor
Cindy Chavez. Minh Le then suggested a face-to-face
meeting with all concerned members for conflict resolution. A few board members agreed but when it came
time to meet, Hong Cao, Tue Phan, and My Linh Pham backed down and refused to attend.
Continuing their practices of secret meetings since July without Loc Vu, key decisions were being made without his knowledge. A few members of the board expressed their frustration and disrespectful treatment of Loc Vu, they had stopped attending the secret meetings and worried openly about the board's scheming way.
Who are the Board Members of IRCC
It has been difficult to determine who are the current
board members of IRCC. Emails
and phone calls went unanswered. Only a
few board members are now involved in the dispute. To further obscure the matter, letters sent to
the public were without signatures or names until being questioned by the
community.
Information gathered from the board members who are
disgusted with the actions of the other board members in their treatment of Loc
Vu, shed some light on the causes behind the conflict. Here are brief backgrounds of the board
members.
Philip Nguyen is the ED of the Vietnamese American Roundtable. He has not been active since February 2024 and resigned in September 2024. He did not know about the conflict since nobody included him in the communication.
Nhut Ho is a retired insurance agent in San Jose and a long-time board member. He is uncomfortable by the whole episode and decides to stay out. He told Vu that since you did not bend your knee to them, he would suffer the consequences for they are determined.
Tanya Thai Ha is a well-known community activist who in the past has been a reliable fundraiser for IRCC. She could not stand the “That duc” actions a few board members were doing. “That duc” in Vietnamese means a lack of morality and unethical.
Cuong Nguyen, 83, owner of Pho Wagon Restaurant in
Sunnyvale. He is trying his best to
resolve the conflict but feels powerless.
He and Nhu Ho were trying to get the other board members involved in a conflict-resolution
process.
Hong Cao, My Linh Pham, and Tue Phan are the three known board members who are proponents of adversarial tactics and public confrontation.
Tue Phan, 82, a retired administrative immigration judge, living in Danville. He is distant in the community but always reminds people that he was the first Vietnamese American federal judge.
Mentally not as sharp as he used to be, his recent Op-ed letter to the community accusing Vu of mismanaging money while committing all kinds of misconduct showed his confusion of facts.
Vu’s lawyer sent a letter requesting him to stop the public libel and pointed out the false accusations. See the attached document.
Hong Cao was hired by Vu to help with maintaining the Viet
Museum. He has a knack for controversy. In the summer of 2024, he openly accused the head
of the United Vietnamese American Community of Northern California of
laundering money. In response, the head
of UVAC of Northern Cal sent a public statement asking Hong Cao to either
provide proof or he should resign from being the head of the Viet Museum. Hong Cao did not respond.
My Linh Pham is currently a Santa Clara County employee in
one of their healthcare divisions. She
and her husband, Sam Ho, have a nonprofit organization called Asian American
Center of Santa Clara County. She also claimed that UVAC of Norther Cal mismanaged
funding.
Hong Cao and My Linh were members of the UVAC of Northern California. They both resigned after getting tangled in a power struggle with other league members. But not to be forgotten, their departing gift was the accusation that the head of UVAC of Northern Cal laundered money and mismanaged funding.
Money Laundering and Fund Mismanagement?
The money laundering and fund misuse accusation is a familiar
story in the community -
Phuong (Peter) Nguyen, an aide to State Senator Dave Cortese, in the past, had told people in the community that My Linh Pham had mismanaged COVID-19 funding given to her nonprofit from Destination Home. The truth is probably a vengeful action by Peter Nguyen as he felt he did not get what he wanted in his dealing with her.
The controversial accusation by My Linh Pham and Hong Cao against
UVAC when they resigned from the group. The truth
is probably hurt ego and damaged pride for they were on the short end of a
power struggle.
The public accusation of Loc Vu by a few members of the IRCC
board on mismanagement of funding and IRCC itself. The truth has not yet fully revealed itself but the conventional wisdom is probably a smearing campaign to
take over IRCC by hook or by crook.
Community Reactions
Most people are puzzled why the dispute between a few board members and Loc Vu had to be dragged out in public. Loc Vu has helped build the community in the last 45 years. He plays an important role in putting the Vietnamese American community on the map in San Jose.
A few board members mentioned are his junior, and
some are his children’s age. Their public
smearing campaign against an old man has caused anger in the community. The disrespectful treatment of somebody older
than your father and unwillingness to sit down for a conflict resolution is
what people are questioning.
Instead of de-escalating, Tue Phan is escalating and doubling
down on false accusations in the name of the IRCC Board. A board that nobody knows for sure who they
are and working under a cloak of secrecy with an agenda that is so far not in the best
interest of the community.
On December 23, 2024, an IRCC held a public forum with an
open invitation to all. Leaders of the community including Hoang Co Dinh, the lawyer
Bich Nguyen, Trieu Ha, Hoang Mong Thu, and Van Lan Truong, spoke in support
of Loc Vu.
One of the lingering questions in their minds is why such a
divisive and scorched earth donnybrook by the few members of the boards who have
not contributed anything significant to IRCC but were using IRCC and Loc Vu’s name
to gain their 5 minutes of fame.
Loc Vu said at the end: " I would like to apologize for everything, it is all my fault for building something to preserve our history and trusting people to be decent and do the right thing for the benefit of all..."
What's next?
With the alleged board with few members left refusing to have any communication with Loc Vu for conflict resolution and the recent defamation letter by Tue Phan with the intention to hurt Vu's reputation, it is difficult to know
where this conflict will be heading.
The community is afraid whatever happens, the damage already has been done by the few members of the board with their egoistic determination to shamefully destroy an honorable old man who has dedicated his life to serving the
community proudly and generously.
As the Vietnamese diasporic community in San Jose prepares for the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon for being on the losing side of a bitter and divisive war among brothers, it is ironic that the Vietnam Museum and its collections of Vietnam War history and refugee experiences is now a battleground to the death among brothers.
