Viet UCLA alum honored by Obama at White House for work with homeless

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Bolsavik
Tak and Barack

Thach Tak Nguyen shakes hands with President Obama at the Champions of Change ceremony at the White House.

A Vietnamese-American, himself coming from a broken, low-income family, was honored by President Barack Obama for his innovative idea to help feed the homeless, a project that he started while still a student at UCLA.

Thach “Tak” Nguyen, 23, co-founder and CFO of Swipes for the Homeless, a non-profit organization that started as a student organization at UCLA, was honored as a “Champion of Change“ in a Mar. 15 ceremony at the White House that was captured on video. Tak is in the lower right corner of the screen.

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Posted in education, real Viet mensch | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

“Touch,” love story, coming to OC on Friday

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Bolsavik

Lynn Porter (Duong) as Tam, in Touch.

After opening to a full house in San Jose last weekend, Touch, a love story taking place in a nail salon, is coming to Orange County this weekend starting Friday night at AMC The Block.

The film, helmed by USC graduate film school alum Minh Duc Nguyen, tells the story of a young Vietnamese woman Tam (Lynn Porter) working in a nail salon and her relationship with her father (Long Nguyen, of Journey from the Fall fame), her boyfriend Ky (Tony LaThanh), and a customer Brendan (Peter Ruby) whose soul connected with hers. The film explores the main character’s loneliness, her losses and her search for love and human connection. Singer My Lan plays the nail salon’s owner.

As a sneak preview, the film won the Audience Choice Award at ViFF 2011, and received rave reviews from the press critics at all the festivals it went to. The Mercury News has a front-page restrospective on Viets making films, on the occasion of Touch‘s San Jose sell-out.


Touch is now playing in San Jose, at AMC Eastridge 15 (2190 Eastridge Loop, San Jose). Showtimes: 1:25 PM, 4:05 PM, 6:45 PM, 9:45 PM

In Orange County, Touch will be shown at AMC The Block 30 (20 City Blvd West, Orange) starting this Friday, March 16.

UPDATE: Showtimes: 10:35 AM, 1:20 PM, 4:00 PM, 7:05 PM, 10:15 PM.

Read the film’s synosis after the jump.

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Posted in art, events | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Bruce Tran files for bankruptcy

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Bolsavik

The cover page of Bruce Tran's bankruptcy filing

If nothing else, Bruce Tran has the knack for making news even when he’s not doing things.

What the CEO of VHN-TV and vice-president of the Vietnamese American Federation of Southern California is not doing now, is that he’s not going to show up at a hearing on the collection of more than $1.5 million in judgment debt.

Because he’s filed for bankruptcy, and the law provide for the stay of all actions against the debtors until either the bankruptcy case is over or the bankruptcy judge lifts the stay.

Which was, of course, how people learned of the bankruptcy filing in the first place: His lawyer filed it in the collection action to stay a hearing.

Despite being on the hook for the judgment debt that may reach close to $2 million if legal interest is added, in his bankruptcy filing Tran claims debt of only between $0 and $50,000.

Bruce TranThe Vietnamese American Federation, of which Tran is a vice-president, is a creation of the Interfaith Council, a religious group that sought to “unite” the various political fractions in the Viet community.

A very public election was organized for the Federation’s board. When the results came out, though, the organizers kicked two winners off the board. Tran was moved up the ranks and ended up as one of two vice-presidents of the group.

His term is up this year, and a new election is being organized. An organizing committee has been set up for the new election, but the process for choosing this organizing committee was a bit obfuscated and confusing; it’s unclear what role if any the Interfaith Council is now playing in this. 

Anyway, apparently worried that Viet Weekly editors may run (and, gasp, win), organizers inserted a new condition for candidates: You can’t run if you’ve traveled to Vietnam in the past year.

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Posted in business, celebrity, Crime & courts, litigation | Tagged , , | 23 Comments

Tyler Diep collects $135,000, quits race

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Bolsavik

Tyler Diep, whose supporters' $135,000 now go somewhere else

Just a few days after touting a campaign treasure of $135,000, Tyler Diep annouces he’s no longer running for the California Assembly.

The Westminster city councilman previously sent a press release saying he’d raised $135,000 for his race to the Assembly district 72, a newly created district parts of which cover Little Saigon. That puts him way ahead of two other Viet candidates, OC Board of Education member Long Pham and perennial candidate Joe Dovinh. (Actually Pham too is always running for something.)

A week later, though, Diep in a Feb. 7 interview on Nguoi Viet Daily News announces that he’s calling it quits.

Why? Because “the strategy is no longer appropriate.” Why not? Because there are now 3 Vietnamese vying for the seat.

It’s unclear why it took 2 months for Diep to realize he’s got competition, but there we go. Continue reading →

Posted in elections | Tagged , , , , , | 41 Comments

Viet Assembly candidate, former Rosemead mayor, pleads guilty to bribery

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Bolsavik

John Tran

John Tran, the former Rosemead city council member and mayor, has agreed to plead guilty to federal bribery charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Tran, 36, was named in a criminal filing Friday and the plea agreement was also filed. This usually happens when the defendant agrees to plead guilty when confronted by the investigators, in this case, the FBI.

Tran pleads guilty to accepting bribes from a developer who invested in $1.8 million plots of land in Rosemead in exchange for helping him/her with a mixed-use building project. His help came to naught, the project was never approved, and Tran was voted out of office in 2009, losing by 1 vote after two rounds of recount.

The maximum sentencing Tran faces is 10 years in prison, restitution, and a fine of $250,000.

The statement of fact accompanying the plea agreement – Tran is agreeing to all the details in it - shows the gall of Tran, who did not seem to even know the developer beforehand.

Identified in the filing only as a confidential informant (“CI”), the developer bought an empty lot in Rosemead in 2005 for $1.1 million. The previous owner had already had a blueprint for an office building, and CI planned to follow through with it.

So CI went to City Hall to apply for a permit. There, CI met Tran who asked what CI was doing there. CI said, to apply for a permit. Tran then took CI and two city employees into a conference room, introduced himself as a member of the city council.

After hearing CI talk about the permit, Tran and the two city employees suggested that it would be better if CI develop a mixed-use building instead.

They also suggested that CI buy the adjacent lot, which CI eventually did, at a price of $700,000.

Next thing CI knew, Tran showed up at CI’s office. Claiming he’s “help”ing with the permit process, Tran asked for money.

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Posted in crime, Politics | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Freeway interchange named in memory of Viet student activist

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Bolsavik

 

Phu Nguyen's parents (1st and 3rd from left), his brother-in-law (right), and niece and nephew attend the unveiling ceremony of the naming sign in his honor, in this photo proviđe by State Senator Lou Correa's (2nd from left) office.

 

An interchange on the 22 freeway has been named in honor of late Vietnamese-American student activist Nguyen Ngoc Phu in a ceremony Thursday.

The sign proclaiming the “Nguyen Ngoc Phu Human Rights Memorial Interchange” was unveiled at the Beach Boulevard exit off the 22, in Westminster.

The naming was an act of the California Legislature through a bill sponsored by State Sen. Lou Correa. In an interview on Nguoi Viet, Correa said this was the first freeway or intersection in California that’s named for a Viet. It’s also the first one with the words “human rights” in it.

Phu Nguyen was an activist and officer of the UVSA, often confused with the other Phu Nguyen the former president of the UVSA.

This Phu Nguyen was UVSA vice-president and head of the organizing committee for the Tet Festival of 2005. His father was an officer in the South Vietnamese Army who suffered through the communist reeducation camps.

Phu was graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a biology degree and was due to start medical school at UCLA when he died from a heart condition.

It was right after he came home from attending a meeting of the Orange County Board of Supervisors where the flag of South Vietnam was honored, something Phu had lobbied for.

Posted in Life, real Viet mensch | Tagged , , | 23 Comments

Another Viet business joins Top Tax Debt list

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Bolsavik

Another Vietnamese-American business from Bolsavikland just joined the list of California’s top sales and use tax delinquents.

Dragon Auto Inc., a small used car dealer in Garden Grove, owes $960,564, according to the latest list updated November 30. This Viet dealer buys and sells used car a handful at a time, and last had any significant commerce in 2009.

Even with an unpaid tax bill of almost a million, Dragon is nowhere near the top of the list, not even among other Viets.

At more than double the tax bill, is D and L Wireless Inc., dba Wireless Citi (not to be confused with Wireless City, still in business), of Garden Grove. This Viet cellular phone business owes a whopping $2,261,377 in sales and use tax.

One business that has been on the list since 2004 is Hollytron Inc. of Westminster. Although targeting the Vietnamese market, this high-flying consumer electronic retailer is actually Korean-owned. It underwent bankruptcy and left dozens of Viet and fellow Korean vendors holding the bag for millions of unpaid invoices. The list shows Hollytron owing the state $1,247,297.

Posted in business | Tagged , , , , | 57 Comments

Public assistance fraud nets Viet trio 2 years in prison

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Bolsavik

A Viet woman who hid her assets to get public assistance, and her Viet aunt and uncle who fronted for her, were sentenced to 2 years in prison and $140,000 in restitution, according to the OC DA here.

The three pleaded guilty on 11/23 and were sentenced on 11/30.

The rich-but-claiming-to-be-poor woman is Lieu Thi Ha, 38, of Westminster. She was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in state prison, after pleading guilty to a total of 50 felony counts of perjury, grand theft, and public assistance fraud.

Apparently, she lied and hid her ownership of a Los Angeles nail salon and a Westminster home, and failed to report income received from tenants who rented rooms in her house.

Hiding all these assets and income, Ha applied for and received over $140,000 in various forms of public assistance, including housing, cash, child care services, and food stamps.

Her aunt Hue Thi Chu, 37, and Chu’s ex-husband Hai Dien Luu, 49, both of Garden Grove, helped her by pretending the house was theirs. Chu also pretended to be the caretaker for the children so Ha could get state payments — but at the time Chu was not living in the U.S. The child care assistance amounted to over $7,700.

Ha applied for, and got, Section 8 housing assistance for living in the home that her aunt and uncle fronted for her. For this, Ha received over $88,000 in Section 8 money.

For their part in the fraud – which took place when the two were still married – Chu and Luu each got 2 years in prison.

Posted in crime | Tagged | 23 Comments