L.A. homeless providers fraudster loved luxuries, authorities cost

A person accused of fleecing L.A.’s homeless providers forms for $23 million was arrested at his Westwood residence early Friday morning as a part of an ongoing multi-agency probe into the county’s multi-billion greenback efforts to tamp down encampments and convey extra individuals in off the streets.

“There was no vetting process, there was no accounting going on,” stated Bill Essayli, who leads the U.S. legal professional’s workplace in Los Angeles. “We will find out where every dollar went. We want to get to the bottom of the fraud.”

Alexander Soofer, 42, of Westwood was charged with wire fraud amid allegations he used his Hyde Park-based program Abundant Blessings to line the pockets of his $2,450 Hermes trotting jacket with thousands and thousands in taxpayer {dollars} from Inside Safe and Measure H.

Soofer has not but entered a plea in response to the fees and his legal professional, Hilary Potashner, declined to remark Friday.

According to the indictment towards him, Soofer charged L.A. companies to feed and home greater than 600 individuals, then funneled the money right into a $7-million residence in Westwood, non-public college tuition, White Lotus-style holidays, a second residence in Greece and dear Hermes goodies.

To backstop his spending, officers say Soofer falsified invoices to assert he was serving recent meals and renting out rooms whereas his “clients” have been left with breakfast bars, canned beans and bulk packs of Ramen noodles to arrange in a microwave oven.

When confronted concerning the lack of meals by a county monitoring crew, the indictment alleged, Soofer “ran to a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant and came back with bags of food to give participants for lunch.”

“We have provided literally billions of dollars, trusting that LAHSA would find contractors that would provide meals and rooms for the homeless,” stated Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman, who unveiled associated state expenses from a parallel, impartial investigation. “Rather than do his job, [Soofer] ripped off the voters of L.A. County, he ripped off the taxpayers of L.A. County, and sadly and tragically he ripped off the homeless.”

“Mr. Soofer called his company Abundant Blessings, but the only abundant blessings were the blessings he gave himself,” Hochman stated.

The arrest caps the second main operation to emerge from a process pressure Essayli introduced final spring to research potential fraud and corruption involving native homelessness funds.

In October, federal prosecutors introduced their first circumstances, charging two actual property executives with misappropriating thousands and thousands.

Even earlier than the duty pressure’s launch, there was rising concern from the general public and a few elected officers that the billions spent to fight homelessness hasn’t meaningfully shrunk the variety of individuals sleeping on the road.

The variety of homeless individuals throughout L.A. County dropped 4% final yr, in response to the annual rely launched in July. An estimated 72,308 individuals have been dwelling in shelters or on the streets within the county, together with 43,699 individuals within the metropolis of L.A.

Last yr, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to take away county funds from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and arrange its personal division. The transfer adopted two important audits that discovered LAHSA, a joint city-county company, did not correctly monitor its funds and applications, leaving them susceptible to waste and fraud.

At a press convention Friday, federal officers characterised these failings as endemic to the county’s homeless providers forms.

One Abundant Blessings facility in a residential Mid-City neighborhood beforehand drew complaints from neighbors, who informed The Times in 2024 that folks staying there have been loud and aggressive.

At the time, LAHSA informed The Times that Abundant Blessings had at one level been contracted to supply housing on-site to individuals exiting jail and jail, however that use had stopped.

Abundant Blessings knowledgeable the company {that a} county psychological health-funded program was working there, however the county psychological well being division stated that they had no document of that.

In a short interview in 2024, Soofer declined to inform The Times what his group presently used the property for.

But in response to the indictment, he paid himself above-market price to “rent” properties he already owned, falsifying information to point out he’d paid market price to made-up landlords so as to home his shoppers.

At one level, a resort the place Abundant Blessings shoppers have been staying threatened to evict them over nonpayment, forcing LAHSA to pay straight for the rooms, regardless of already having shelled out to Soofer to hire them.

If convicted, Soofer may withstand 20 years in federal jail and as many as 17 years in state lockup, officers stated.

“We know the public wants arrests, it wants accountability,” Essayli stated. “Be patient. I can assure you, justice is coming.”