Meanwhile, county leaders claim the nonprofit defrauded them and is mired in conflicts of interest in a countersuit filed on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a custody battle with major implications for how the county continues to treat mental health and addiction, with county leaders acknowledging the dream of private insurance money helping fund treatment through the program has died.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orange County\u2019s Treatment Partnership Falls Apart\u00a0<\/p>\n
The legal dispute centers on a mental health treatment clinic in Orange County that opened off the side of the 57 freeway in Orange in 2021. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BeWell_Voice-of-OC__-2.jpg\")
One of Be Well\u2019s main service providers, Telecare Corp., was found to be failing to provide services after a county review. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC<\/p>\n
Initially, both Mind OC and the county worked together on the project, with the county contributing over $16 million to the Orange site while Mind OC helped organize a $12 million donation for construction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both sides agreed that Mind OC would manage construction and property management once the center opened, with the nonprofit paying $1 a year for the building under their lease, an agreement county lawyers say was intended to help save money on the space.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But by mid-2024, county lawyers say the relationship began to break down, claiming Mind OC was pocketing over $2 million a year in sub-leases to various medical companies on top of what they were charging to manage the building, along with violating patient confidentiality rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The county also pointed to an internal audit that found Mind OC broke 38 different terms of the lease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite intensive onsite technical support from HCA staff stationed daily at the Orange Campus, Mind OC failed to meet its responsibilities,\u201d county lawyers wrote, calling for a judge to have Mind OC \u201creturn approximately $64.5 million in wrongfully obtained funds and public property.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mind OC CEO Phil Franks said the county was mischaracterizing the nonprofit\u2019s charges for rent, saying the companies were nonprofits in a statement to Voice of OC on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat some are referring to as \u2018profits\u2019 are operating and facility reserves required to support a 60-year commitment to operate and maintain the Be Well campuses for Orange County,\u201d Franks wrote. \u201cEvery dollar held by Mind OC is reinvested into the campuses and the behavioral health system they were built to support.\u201d<\/p>\n
The county canceled Mind OC\u2019s lease by Feb. 2025, noting in their suit they\u2019d paid over $41.2 million to Mind OC over the term of the lease, and that the nonprofit has refused to return any of the funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese public trust dollars belong to the County and must be returned for mental health services,\u201d county lawyers wrote in their complaint.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/andrewdo_Leopo_-8-2.jpg\")
Andrew Do poses with an Orange County Sheriff during the Be Well OC mental health campus groundbreaking on Oct. 16, 2019. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC <\/p>\n
County lawyers also claim the nonprofit may have had ties to the corruption scandal of former Supervisor Andrew Do, who\u2019s currently serving five years in prison for accepting bribes to reroute contracts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lawyers noted that Do helped increase Mind OC\u2019s role in managing medical operations at the site, despite them being unlicensed, and pointed to a $275,000 contract the nonprofit created with the wife of Do\u2019s then chief of staff Chris Wangsporn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMind OC provided no evidence that the contracted services were ever performed,\u201d county lawyers wrote.\u00a0 \u201cMind OC promised an investigation into the misappropriation, a promise that, to date, has gone unfulfilled.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jeff Singletary, a partner at Snell and Wilmer representing Mind OC, said they received the county\u2019s complaint and were \u201creviewing it carefully,\u201d in a statement on Tuesday evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe timing is telling and it is reactionary,\u201d Singletary wrote. \u201cThe County\u2019s decision to raise these allegations now, for the first time, in a cross-complaint, speaks for itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mind OC sued the county in 2024 for terminating the lease at the Orange site, claiming at the time it was a push to take over the site.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has become evident that the County used the Ground Lease, and this dispute, as leverage to push another agenda, which is taking operational control of the Orange Campus and replacing Plaintiff\u2019s staff with those of the County,\u201d Mind OC\u2019s lawyers wrote in a 2024 statement signed by CEO Phillip Franks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
City Leaders Call for Mental Health Services to Open Amid Lawsuit\u00a0<\/p>\n
Amid the dispute between Mind OC and the county over the Be Well facilities, it remains unclear when the Irvine Be Well facility might open according to county spokesperson Molly Nichelson.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opening of the Irvine Campus has been delayed because the County cannot approve Mind OC\u2019s sublease rent demands which significantly exceed its reasonable costs for property management,\u201d Nichelson wrote in a Tuesday statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The facility is over 75,000 square feet, taking up over 22 acres of land with over 150 empty beds, with Mind OC helping contribute around $5 million toward construction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Supervisor Katrina Foley was much more blunt with Mind OC\u2019s leaders at this week\u2019s supervisor\u2019s public meeting after several of the nonprofit\u2019s board members spoke up during the public comment period, encouraging the county to open up the Irvine facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGive us the keys,\u201d Foley said Tuesday in a sharp retort from the dais.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She continued calls for Mind OC to abandon the property in a statement after the meeting ended.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis action by Mind OC is tantamount to a hired contractor building a beautiful home for your family to find health and wellness in and then refusing to give you the keys,\u201d Foley wrote. The County of Orange owns the land and invested more than $68 million taxpayer dollars to build the Irvine wellness campus to deliver mental health and substance use treatment, not to create a structure where private interests impose unreasonable costs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Irvine leaders are pushing for the facility to open as well, passing a resolution calling on the county to open the doors at a special meeting on Tuesday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BeWell-Campus_2026_Leopo-7-1.jpg\")
Crisis Care Center building at Be Well OC Irvine campus on March 11, 2026. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC<\/p>\n
\u201cWho isn\u2019t in litigation with the county right now?\u201d said Councilman Mike Carroll, referring to a separate lawsuit between the county and the OC Power Authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day that Be Well is not open, there is a 17 year old young woman, maybe a 16 year old young man, whose parents are in crisis, whose parents have no idea what to do,\u201d he continued. \u201cEvery day that facility is not open, that kid is not being dropped off and helped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: Bill Taormina sits on the board of both Mind OC and Voice of OC.<\/p>\n
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org. <\/p>\n
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