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March 3rd

, 2016

Radio Free Asia Copied: Jeffery Shell of BBG

Bernadette Burns BBG's Matthew Armstrong

President BoD Dr. Leon Aron

2025 M Street NW, Suite 300 Ambassador Ryan Crocker

Washington, DC 20036 USA Michael Kempne

Dear Ms. Burns,

I have issued a public announcement asking for information about the following

RFA reporters and staff: Nguyen Van Khanh, Thanh Truc (Gwen Ha), Mac Lam

(Pham Than) and Le Khiem. As a result, I have received valuable information and

multiple tips, which I am sharing with you as supplemental evidence for your

ongoing investigation. I believe they constitute direct and verifiable evidence. As

you certainly already know, it is important to prevent the individuals listed from

destroying incriminating evidence such as email messages, or hiding or conspiring

to hide evidence. Doing so may constitute obstruction of justice, a federal crime, if

your internal investigation warrants criminal investigation by the federal

government.

It is inconceivable for all of this to happen without Ms. Liu's knowledge unless she

was either incompetent or complicit. How is it possible that many RFA staff,

especially the Director of the Vietnamese Language Program, have been working

on outside jobs, making public appearances in support of a political party, or

violating RFA’s own code of ethics with absolute impunity for so long? How is it

possible that RFA has officially partnered with Viet Tan, a foreign political party,

in a number of high-visibility projects when RFA’s policy clearly states that “RFA

journalists must remain independent of any political party, opposition group, exile

organization, or religious body in the countries to which RFA news and

information are disseminated, and must not advocate any political viewpoint

potentially compromising or being perceived as compromising RFA’s objectivity

or impartiality.”? How is it possible that complaints by RFA staff have been

systematically dismissed without investigation while the plaintiff was silenced with

a severance package? Considering the scope, gravity and frequency of violations,

the level of mismanagement is astounding, and collusion between Ms. Libby Liu

and Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh cannot be ruled out.

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Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh’s outside jobs

My previous communication brought to your attention the fact that Mr. Nguyen

Van Khanh works as contract reporters/commentators for five Vietnamese

language media organizations other than RFA. Tips that reached me over the past

few days have revealed his employment with two additional media organizations,

bringing the total to seven. They are:

SBTN: He has been retained as a trainer, advertiser and MC for SBTN. In June

2013 he was sent by SBTN on a mission to Australia to set up SBTN – Australia.

He traveled with Ms. Minh-Thuy, a SBTN-DC staff who is also a Viet Tan party

member and his girlfriend.

SBTN-DC: He works as reporter for SBTN-DC’s “News from Washington DC,” a

weekly program. Many of his reporting for SBTN-DC is conducted during regular

work hours, when he should be doing work at RFA.

VATV: He has taken part in VATV’s training seminars held in different cities in

the U.S. and abroad to train aspiring reporters for SBTN.

Radio Bolsa: He works as a special correspondent for this Orange County,

California-based radio station. He has at least three shows per week, at 10am PST.

Viet Nam Hai Ngoai Radio: Until recently, he was in charge of a weekly half-hour

radio program and charged $100/show. In his contract he demanded that he be paid

even when he skipped a show.

Nguoi Viet daily: He is in charge of a regular column in Nguoi Viet.

Pho Nho biweekly: Using different pen names, he covers the entire front page for

this magazine and gets paid $2,500 per month. The pseudonyms he uses include:

Nguyễn Đức Tuấn Anh (his only son's name), Lê Thắng Độ, Vũ Quang Lâm,

Trương Khả Trân, Nguyễn Long Quân

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In my estimate, he must earn around $80,000 - 100,000 a year from the above

outside jobs, and the list may not end there.

With seven additional jobs, some of which require extensive time commitment

and/or service delivery during hours that he should be working at RFA, I wonder

how much time he has left to do real work at RFA. It is highly probable that he

has spent most of his hours billed to RFA to earn money from other jobs. As a

matter of fact, he has treated his employment with RFA as a mere side job.

Most of the above side jobs involve Viet Tan, a foreign political party being

accused of terrorist activities. My previous communication has explained the close

ties between Viet Tan and SBTN. I am providing you additional information:

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- His girlfriend, Ms. Minh-Thuy, works at SBTN-DC and is a Viet Tan

member.

- Pho Nho biweekly was until recently owned by singer Nguyet Anh, who is a

Viet Tan member.

Clearly, Viet Tan has exploited his greed, his romantic relationship with a Viet Tan

member, and his culpability to influence him and use him to infiltrate RFA’s

Vietnamese Language Program, turning it into Viet Tan’s PR tool.

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The poster below, which advertises a fundraiser for Viet Tan, shows Mr. Khanh

alongside with singer Nguyet Anh, a Viet Tan member and his former employer at

Pho Nho biweekly. Mr. Khanh was listed in the poster as the fundraiser’s MC.

Below is the screenshot from Radio Bolsa’s website. It boasts that "Radio Bolsa is

also honored to have Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh as special correspondent." Note that

Mr. Huynh Luong Thien, a former high ranking Viet Tan member and still a Viet

Tan sympathizer, is also employed by Radio Bolsa.

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Here's an audio from Bolsa Radio (assuming that they have not taken it down)

http://radiobolsa.com/audio/usnews.mp3. At 1:30 minutes, you can listen to

Nguyen Van Khanh's voice and at 6:54 minutes, he says good bye to the audience

as a Washington DC Special Correspondent. This Facebook ad confirms that Mr.

Nguyen Van Khanh works for Radio Bolsa.

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The photo below shows Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh reporting for SBTN at its 15-

years anniversary on February 5, 2016.

In the following video of SBTN, produced on the occasion of its 15-years

anniversary, at 0.10 minute, Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh introduces himself as one of

the SBTN employees, and at 3:46 minutes, STBN refers to him as one of its

employees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNFzaxlfLC0

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The recently published article below is evidence that Mr. Khanh is still working for

Nguoi Viet daily.

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Other RFA staff’s side jobs

Mr. Khanh is not the only RFA staff in the Vietnamese Language Program

working on outside jobs. Below are proofs that Ms. Thanh Truc of RFA is doing

work as a news anchor for SBTN-DC, including during time that she should work

for RFA. Her program is titled “Hello Washington DC.”

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http://phuongdongtimes.com/hinh-anh/video-blogger-dieu-cay-noi-ve-buoi-hoi-

luan-voi-tong-thong-obama

There are indicators that Mr. Mac Lam (real name: Pham Than) is also working for

other Vietnamese language media organizations, like Nguoi Viet daily. Below are

examples of his work with this newspaper, which is based in Orange County,

California. An investigation by RFA should establish whether he contributes

articles occasionally or is a regular paid contributor to Nguoi Viet.

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http://www.nguoi-

viet.com/absolutenm2/templates/viewarticlesNVO.aspx?articleid=218441&zoneid=4

http://www.nguoi-

viet.com/absolutenm2/templates/viewarticlesNVO.aspx?articleid=219302&zoneid=433

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http://www.nguoi-

viet.com/absolutenm2/templates/viewarticlesNVO.aspx?articleid=216625&zoneid=467

As you may have already noticed, the above listed RFA staff share some of the

same outside employers such as SBTN, SBTN-DC, and Nguoi Viet. It appears

they form an interest subgroup within the Vietnamese Language Program of RFA.

A more thorough investigation by your office should be able to reveal the true

scope of this collusion. Below are a few pieces of evidence that may prove useful

to you.

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The photo below shows Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh at the fundraiser for Viet Tan,

held in Falls Church, Virginia on March 30, 2014. The next photo shows Ms.

Thanh Truc and her husband at the same event. Clearly Mr. Khanh and Ms. Thanh

Truc know of each other’s violations of RFA rules and collude in those violations.

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Similarly the next two photos show Mr. Khanh and Mr. Mac Lam at the same

fundraising event in Falls Church, Virginia on November 20, 2013. Mr. Khanh

was listed as MC; Mr. Mac Lam was a keynote speaker. Note that Mr. Ly Thai

Hung, the Secretary General of Viet Tan party, flew in from Sacramento to attend

this event. Many other Viet Tan members were seen in the audience. It appears

that RFA staff ostensibly violate RFA rules knowing that they can do so with

impunity thanks to extreme negligence or even cover-up by Ms. Liu.

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Mr. Mac Lam’s role in RFA

From my sources, I have been informed that Mr. Mac Lam is an operative of Viet

Tan, implanted into RFA to ensure that RFA serves the interest of Viet Tan. In

other words, he is the real boss behind the scene for the subgroup of RFA staff

with ties to Viet Tan. Mr. Mac Lam was reportedly the one who censored RFA’s

interview of community members for their opinions on “Terror in Little Saigon”

and single-handedly cut out the opinion of Mr. Dang Van Au because it was

unfavorable to Viet Tan. My prior communication already pointed to this incident.

Mr. Le Khiem’s misconducts

Mr. Le Khiem was accused of sexual harassment. The complaint was filed with

RFA’s management but no investigation was initiated. Instead, Mr. Le Khiem was

later promoted to Editor of the Vietnamese Language Program’s website. It seems

that he ran that website as he likes, meaning very unprofessionally. For example,

after RFA terminated the contract with blogger Le Dien Duc, Mr. Le Khiem posted

a statement explaining the reasons for such disciplinary action and the policy of

RFA that justifies such action. Half a day later, this statement was pulled off the

website.

I have been informed that he instructed an RFA staff to draft that statement of

policy. He was also the one making decision to post it and then to take it off. Who

gave him such authority? What credentials and professional qualifications does he

have to justify his having such authority?

Other instances of mismanagement

After all, between 2009 and 2010, RFA staff filed complaint(s) with RFA

management where there is reasonable evidence of violation of the law or abuse of

authority. Instead of investigating the perpetrator, RFA management acted to

silence the plaintiff. Here's a quote from one such plaintiff: “I went to the director

of human resources, Alan Tanenbaum, Ms. Liu, Susan Lavery and the inspector

general but was ignored.” Why was Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, Pub.L.

101-12, not complied with or enforced? Why was an outside law firm not brought

in to ensure impartiality in the handling of the complaint? Why was Ms. Thanh

Truc's sexual harassment complaint against Le Khiem not fully investigated?

Clearly the mismanagement has gone too far and been going on for a long time at

RFA.

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Considering the scope of mismanagement and the pattern of mishandling

complaints and reports of violations, Ms. Liu's and human resources' roles should

be investigated in compliance with the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989,

Pub.L. 101-12. Ms. Liu must be recused because she was/is an interested

witness.

Since you are a licensed attorney and, I assume, officer of the court, and probably

so is Ms. Liu (she is a former D.A.), you are required by law to report any

suspicion of tax evasion to the IRS and any attempt to conspire to defraud the

federal government. There are reasons to believe that, by moonlighting while on

RFA's payroll, a number of RFA employees are doing both.

I will continue to provide you with further evidence as I receive it. It should be

clear from the extraordinarily prompt response to my posted announcement that

many people in the Vietnamese American community are watching closely RFA's

investigation into the mounting evidence against Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh and other

staff of RFA's Vietnamese Language Program.

In summary, with mounting direct and verifiable evidence against Nguyen Van

Khanh, Mac Lam, Thanh Truc and Le Khiem, they all must be fired for clear and

numerous violations of RFA's code of journalistic ethics and criminally prosecuted

for defrauding the government and possibly for tax evasion. Le Khiem sexual

harassment must be re-opened for investigation. And giving the allegations,

inaction/action, ineptitude, and the possibility of a cover up by RFA's management,

an independent law firm needs to be brought in to investigate RFA’s human

resources department, Ms. Liu, the executive management and RFA's policy

dealing with Whistleblower(s). This step is critical to preserve the integrity of the

investigation.

In my quest for justice for my father and his fellow Vietnamese American

journalists, who were murdered in cold blood by a terrorist organization.

Investigations by the FBI, different local governments, and two respectable non-

profit organizations have all pointed to Viet Tan and its now-defunct armed

component, Mat Tran (The Front), as the organization behind those murders.

RFA, having been infiltrated and manipulated by Viet Tan operatives operating

within RFA, has practically been defending Viet Tan and thus discouraging

potential witnesses from coming forth. I am therefore personally interested in

seeing that RFA returns to its mission as mandated and funded by Congress.

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This letter is proof that I have provided you, Alan Tanenbaum, Director of Human

Resources; Libby Liu, President; Susan Lavery, Executive Director; Dan

Southerland, Executive Director; and the listed board of directors of BBG evidence

relating to the misconducts of several RFA staffs. I plan to be in Washington DC

in the near future. It is my intention to share the latest developments in this matter

with Rep. Chris Smith and Ed Royce among others.

Sincerely,

TÚ NGUYỄN

Son of a father killed in pursuit of

truth and justice through journalism