Hatch Sues Hmong Foundation

Attorney General Mike Hatch is suing a Minnesota nonprofit foundation, saying it has been involved in questionable spending of hundreds of thousands of dollars while skirting state charities laws.

Since its inception in 2000, the St. Paul-based Vang Pao Foundation has operated without a proper board of directors, has not properly recorded its finances, solicited donations without registering as a charity and allowed two of the general's sons and one of his nephews to control more than a half-million dollars in two bank accounts, according to court records.

The foundation is named for Gen. Vang Pao, a Hmong community leader who led troops on behalf of the United States during the Vietnam War.

In the past four years, the foundation has drawn an undetermined amount of money from the national Hmong soccer tournament and sports festival held Memorial Day weekends in St. Paul, according to the lawusuit filed Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.

The lawsuit seeks court-ordered fines and an injunction to put the foundation out of business.

One of Vang Pao's sons, Cha Vang, is under FBI investigation as part of a federal probe into possible influence peddling at St. Paul City Hall. He was not available for comment, and his attorney, B. Todd Jones, declined comment Tuesday. Cha Vang solely controlled more than $230,000 of foundation money, of which $5,362 was spent on foreign travel, $8,079 at retail stores and $3,235 at restaurants, according to the allegations in the civil complaint.

In another bank account, controlled by foundation officers Lia Vang and Chao Vang, records indicate 44 electronic transfers, "many of them large sums," to and from business bank accounts for Dom's Liquor in Minneapolis and Lakeridge Liquor in Vadnais Heights.

Lia Vang, identified in bank statements as the foundation's vice president and secretary, said Tuesday, "I have no problem with them shutting this thing down. If they don't think we can do it, bring Hmong people together, shut it down and leave the Hmong problems to the state."

Lia Vang, a nephew of Gen. Vang Pao, said money taken in by the foundation to sponsor the sports festival has paid for festival insurance, security and related costs.

"Everyone assumes the festival was making a lot of money," he said. "The foundation doesn't have any money. It has paid for the festival and other activities. But at the end of the day, there has not been enough income to offset expenses."

The complaint said two Vang Pao Foundation bank accounts have handled "approximately $536,371 since 2001 with no board management and little or no documentation."

Cha Vang, who is listed in some records as a project manager at the foundation, had sole control over one of the accounts from April 2001 through January 2003, according to bank records examined by the state. Investigators reported that the records "reflect large withdrawals and payments with no documentation as to their purpose or propriety."

Cha Vang told the attorney general's office that he had few documents because records sought by investigators were burned in an arson fire that destroyed his Maplewood home in 2004.

Check out our KARE family of Web sites:
	takeKARE		Metromix
	Moms Like Me		Minnesota Bound
	Showcase Minnesota