The Viet Museum in San Jose has been closed for months amid a political power struggle over leadership succession. The Immigrant Resettlement and Cultural Center filed a lawsuit Aug. 14 seeking to remove five people it says are no longer legitimate board members, naming Hong Cao, Cuong Nguyen, Nhut Ho, Tue Quang Phan and My Linh Pham. The lawsuit alleges the former board members are attempting to seize control of the nonprofit and its collections. Conflicting accusations include claims of secret meetings and bylaw violations, and counterclaims of nepotism and suspicious bank withdrawals. Founder Loc Vu declared those members illegitimate and called a new board election, prompting History San Jose to close the museum in December pending clarity.
The Immigrant Resettlement and Cultural Center - the nonprofit managing the old farmhouse in History Park that stores precious artifacts, photographs and art from local Vietnam War refugees - filed a lawsuit Aug. 14 against five people it claims are no longer legitimate board members. Defendants include Hong Cao, the museum's former director of operations, as well as Cuong Nguyen, Nhut Ho, Tue Quang Phan and My Linh Pham. The nonprofit's lawsuit alleges Cao and the other former board members are trying to seize control of the nonprofit and museum.
Cao didn't respond to requests for comment. Pham declined to comment, and the other former board members could not be reached. "We spent months making painstaking efforts to show understanding and to honor the public standing of these five individuals. But it seems that nothing short of the total control or complete destruction of the Viet Museum would ever satisfy them," Quinn Tran, president and executive director of the Immigrant Resettlement and Cultural Center, said in a statement.
The dispute ties back to the retirement of Loc Vu, a Vietnam War veteran who founded the museum, which opened a rift between him and the five board members as to who would succeed him as executive director. Vu accused board members of meeting secretly and violating the nonprofit's bylaws, while they accused Vu of nepotism and making suspicious bank withdrawals from the organization. As a result, Vu deemed them illegitimate board members and called for a new board election in January - just months after some members were elected in August 2024, according to the lawsuit.
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