Immediate Ban on Selling Vegetarian Foods on the Temple’s Premises
Decision of the Interim Board of Directors
March 27, 2025
All vegetarian food sales on the premises of the Cao Dai Temple in California must stop as of today for the following reasons:
1) On October 31, 2024, Judge Lee L. Gabriel ruled that the defendants had mis-appropriated $916,177 in the Temple’s funds, including income from selling vegetarian food.
2) On the same day, Judge Gabriel expelled three people from the Board of Directors: Tran Tuan Hai, Tran Thanh Minh (Michael), and Truong Ngoc Thanh, and banned them from the Board of Directors for 8 years.
3) The remaining five defendants were illegally added to the Board of Directors by Mr. Tran Tuan Hai after a lawsuit had been filed: Le Van Chut, Tran Tan Nghiep, Hoa The Nhan, Le Trung Hau, and Nguyen Hoang Linh. When Mr. Tran Tuan Hai was expelled, the list of people these fake Board members was consequently invalidated.
4) On February 13, 2025, the Garden Grove Police Department was requested to investigate the possible acts of embezzlement, tax evasion, and money laundering committed by the above individuals; these acts were all related to the vegetarian food business.
5) The vegetarian food business is not permitted by the Temple’s by-laws and is considered “unrelated business” under U.S. tax law.
6) The revenue and expenditure from this illegal business are not closely monitored, posing a high risk of violating court orders and the laws on embezzlement, tax evasion, and money laundering.
The above incidents have been reported to the Garden Grove Police, California’s Attorney General, the FBI, and the Department of Treasury.
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