WASHINGTON — The founder of a once-strong nonprofit aimed at helping the LGBTQ+ community in D.C. appeared in court Wednesday on several charges, including bank fraud, money laundering and failure to report a foreign bank account.
According to the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, 53-year-old Ruby Corado made her first court appearance since fleeing the country nearly two years ago. She is accused of defrauding Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs and money laundering.
Officials say Corado, who is the founder of the now shuttered Casa Ruby, diverted at least $150,000 of $1.3 million in taxpayer-backed emergency relief funds, intended for the nonprofit, to private bank accounts off-shore for her personal use. Casa Ruby operated in D.C. for 10 years, aiming to provide transitional housing and related support to LGBTQ+ youth through charitable donations from the public and grants from the D.C. government.
Corado is charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, laundering of monetary instruments, monetary transactions in criminally derived proceeds and failure to file a report of a foreign bank account.
According to court documents, Corado received more than $1.3 million from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. Officials accuse Corado of stealing at least $150,000 of those funds, transferring that money to bank accounts in El Salvador, which she hid from the IRS.
Additionally, in September 2021, Corado started a GoFundMe for the nonprofit. She asked the public for contributions after receiving what she said was a sudden notice from the D.C. government that key operations wouldn't be renewed. That GoFundMe raised more than $130,000.
In 2022, financial irregularities at Casa Ruby started becoming public and Corado reportedly sold her home in Prince George's County and fled to El Salvador. In August of that same year, a D.C. judge ordered Casa Ruby to freeze all of its financial accounts and ordered a third party to instead take on the management and assessment of its financial condition and viability. The nonprofit effectively ceased operations in July 2022 after it shuttered its transitional housing, failed to pay its employees, and faced eviction from multiple properties for failure to pay rent.
Nearly two years after she fled the country, FBI agents arrested Corado Tuesday at a hotel in Laurel, Maryland after her unexpected return to the U.S. It is unclear why Corado came back. She is being held until a detention hearing later this week.
Bank fraud carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Additionally, wire fraud comes with a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison and money laundering charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years.
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