The founder of a D.C. nonprofit that served homeless LGBTQ+ youth pleaded guilty Wednesday to funneling at least $150,000 in emergency Covid funds to private bank accounts in El Salvador, the U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. announced.
Ruby Corado, 63, transferred money that was intended for the nonprofit Casa Ruby to off-shore accounts and hid it from the IRS, according to prosecutors. She had received more than $1.3 million in funding from the government's Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
In court Wednesday, she pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Prosecutors agreed to drop the other charges in exchange for her guilty plea.
Corado told the judge she used 85% of the money appropriately and 15% for a "project." She didn't give further details about the alleged project, but told the judge she wants to give her side of the story to explain how she used the money at her sentencing scheduled for Jan. 10, 2025.
The judge released her from home detention and ordered her to keep a curfew from from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. She also has to wear a GPS tracking device.
"I trust that justice is being done. The use of public money has to be accounted for and I'm sorry that this is happening, but I'm most sorry for the people that she served," Mayor Muriel Bowser told News4's Mark Segraves on Wednesday.
When Casa Ruby's financial issues became public in 2022, Corado sold her home in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and fled to El Salvador, the attorney’s office said.
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FBI agents arrested Corado in March at a hotel in Laurel after she unexpectedly returned to the U.S. She faced bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering charges.
Casa Ruby stopped operating in July 2022, failing to pay rent and employees and closing its transitional housing, the attorney’s office said.
Corado had received more than $9 million in grants from the District since 2016.
In November 2022, the D.C. Attorney General’s Office filed a complaint stating Corado funneled more than $400,000 from Casa Ruby to her personal accounts between April 2021 and September 2021. Corado denied those allegations when she spoke to News4 from El Salvador, insisting she was targeted for her criticism of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration and a complaint she filed against the D.C. Department of Human Services.
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