Official’s prosecution sought

A political ally of the candidate who lost an Orange County supervisorial race to Janet Nguyen filed a criminal complaint Monday asserting she broke state and local campaign finance laws by secretly directing donors to pay her legal bills.

An official with the district attorney’s office said the complaint was being forwarded to the state attorney general’s office.

The accusation follows a report by The Times this month that revealed Nguyen had quietly sought and accepted contributions above the legal donation limit to pay down debts from a court battle over her three-vote margin of victory in the Feb. 6 special election.

Nguyen acknowledged soliciting and receiving the contributions but said her lawyers had advised her that she could maintain a “legal defense fund” that wouldn’t be subject to campaign finance laws.

She said in an earlier interview that she received only three donations above the legal limit and asked her lawyer to return those contributions.

The county’s campaign finance law requires politicians who return donations above the legal limit to publicly identify those donors and the amount given. Brett Rowley, a spokesman for the county registrar, said Nguyen had not yet filed such disclosures.

California law allows state lawmakers to open legal defense funds but does not extend that right to local officials.

Under the law, legal defense funds for state politicians operate as campaign committees, with public filings showing donors and recipients. Nguyen asked donors to make checks out directly to her lawyer’s trust account.

Local campaign law also defines contributions for legal costs as campaign contributions that are subject to normal disclosure requirements and donation limits and prohibits officials from having more than one campaign account.

Monday’s complaint asked the district attorney’s office to investigate the allegations and prosecute Nguyen. It was filed by Can Nguyen, a political supporter of Trung Nguyen, the candidate who lost to Janet Nguyen. The three Nguyens are not related.

Can Nguyen was the plaintiff in the lawsuit that challenged the outcome in the recount, and the complaint to the district attorney was prepared with the help of one of Trung Nguyen’s campaign lawyers, Steve Baric.

“Ms. Nguyen’s actions are serious breaches of campaign finance laws and of the public trust,” the complaint said. “The public should have confidence that their elected officials comply with the law.”

Janet Nguyen did not return telephone calls seeking comment, but her campaign manager issued a written statement.

“This latest complaint is just another part of an orchestrated smear campaign,” David Gilliard said. “If there were any code violations, they were completely inadvertent and have been dealt with properly.”

The district attorney’s office may have forwarded the complaint to state authorities because the case involved a thicket of personal and professional relationships tied to the office that could pose potential conflicts of interest.

Trung Nguyen’s lawyer and campaign co-chairman, Michael Schroeder, is a political advisor to Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas, and Schroeder’s wife, Susan, works in the district attorney’s office. In addition, Janet Nguyen serves on a committee that advises Rackauckas on the Vietnamese community, and her chief of staff and campaign lawyer, Andrew Do, worked in the district attorney’s office and is married to a prosecutor there.

Officials with the district attorney’s office did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

An investigation could further escalate Nguyen’s legal bills at a time when her campaign is already scrambling to pay debts and is facing a normally scheduled election for her seat next year. Nguyen’s campaign manager said earlier this month that she faced at least $100,000 in campaign bills, though Orange County Republicans held a fundraiser for her last week.

christian.berthelsen @latimes.com