RANDY ECONOMY: MY WORLD: TAN NGUYEN: Former OC Congressional Candidate Sentenced to Prison for Lying During Investigation Into Campaign Letters

Monday, February 14, 2011

TAN NGUYEN: Former OC Congressional Candidate Sentenced to Prison for Lying During Investigation Into Campaign Letters

SANTA ANA, CA—Tan Nguyen, who ran for the United States House of Representatives in 2006, was sentenced this morning to one year and one day in federal prison for his conviction last year on a federal obstruction of justice charge stemming from lies he told to California investigators about his involvement in a letter sent to Latino voters during the campaign.

Nguyen, a 35-year-old Oceanside resident, was sentenced by United States District Judge David O. Carter, who presided over two trials last year. In addition to the prison term, Judge Carter ordered Nguyen to serve six months at a residential reentry center, also known as a halfway house.

Prior to imposing a prison term, Judge Carter said, "The standard of ethics that the public expects of their officials is high."

A federal jury in December found Nguyen guilty of obstruction of justice for lying to the California Department of Justice, which was investigating numerous complaints from Latino voters in the 47th Congressional District in Orange County. The complaints came after approximately 14,000 voters in the district received a letter in Spanish that made certain claims about who was eligible to vote and what would happen to immigrant voters if they cast ballots. The mailer went out on letterhead that was similar to that of an anti-illegal immigration group, the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, which had nothing to do with the letter.

During an interview with CalDOJ investigators in October 2006, Nguyen falsely stated that campaign volunteers created the letter without his knowledge.

"Mr. Nguyen's conduct undermined the public's expectation of honesty from public officials and those who desire to serve," said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr.

Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, stated: "The Civil Rights Division is committed to protecting the voting rights of all individuals. We simply will not tolerate those who attempt to interfere with efforts to enforce civil rights laws in our nation."

The jury that convicted Nguyen on the obstruction of justice charge deadlocked 9-3 on a second obstruction of justice charge that alleged Nguyen attempted to blame a campaign worker for the letter. Nguyen was found guilty following his second trial; a jury in the first trial in August 2010 deadlocked on both counts. At the conclusion of today's sentencing hearing, federal prosecutors moved to dismissed the unresolved obstruction of justice charge.

Judge Carter ordered Nguyen to surrender to begin serving his sentence by March 28.
The investigation into Nguyen was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California and the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

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Meet Randy Economy

You may know me from my role as the Senior Advisor and Official Media Spokesman for the Recall Gavin Newsom campaign that established a worldwide blitz of interviews. I conducted more than 2,200 media interviews on behalf of “The People’s Recall” during a 10-month period from November 2020 to September 2021. The iconic magazine Mother Jones in a dramatic feature article called me “A ‘Superhero Pirate’ Radio Host, (and) Gavin Newsom’s Strangest—and Most Dangerous—Threat. Meet Randy Economy, the man behind the effort to recall California’s governor.” I appeared on more than 330 media outlets around the world in my capacity with RecallGavin2020. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Newsmax, NBC Nightly News, ABC News, as well as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Politico, and dozens of other media outlets aired featured reports on my work on behalf of “The People’s Recall.” I am and will always consider myself to be a journalist. Sometimes I think I bleed ink. My talents as an Investigative Journalists in California earned me FIVE top awards from the prestigious Los Angeles Press Club in 2013, 2014, and 2016. I am tenacious. My reporting over the years has led to the prosecution of several elected officials in California. While working for a tiny community newspaper in Southeast Los Angeles County, I worked doggedly to expose the biggest public corruption case in Los Angeles County history when I unearthed a massive pay to play scheme inside the Assessor’s Office that led to the arrest of then Assessor John R. Noguez and four others. However, politics has been in my DNA since I was a child. I have worked on more than 300 political campaigns as a consultant and advisor since 1982 for candidates from all sides of the political spectrum including Democrats and Republicans, and even Libertarians. I am also a small business owner, serving as the President and CEO of Hot Water Studio & Production, LLC. My company works with media outlets across the state, nation, and world exposing public corruption via several new media platforms. I have also overcome personal challenges. I am legally blind with zero vision in my right eye and only 40 percent vision remaining in my left eye. I sometimes wear an eyepatch due to my failed vision. (Hence the nickname of “America’s Political Pirate.”