Ruby Corado Arrested for Fraud and Money Laundering
The founder of Casa Ruby was arrested in a hotel room in Laurel, Maryland, after an "unexpected return" to the United States.
Ruby Corado, the founder and former head of Casa Ruby, a Washington, D.C.-based LGBTQ and immigrant services and emergency shelter, has been arrested and charged with fraud and money laundering for alleged misuse of COVID-19 relief funds.
The 53-year-old Corado has been accused of defrauding the Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs by diverting funds intended to benefit Casa Ruby’s clients — including homeless LGBTQ youth, LGBTQ immigrants, and current and former sex workers — into her personal bank account.
According to The Washington Post, federal prosecutors allege Corado took at least $150,000 of the $1.3 million that Casa Ruby had received in emergency relief funds aimed at assisting small business owners and nonprofits in navigating difficult financial times during COVID-related shutdowns.
Corado was arrested at a hotel in Laurel, Maryland, on March 6 after an “unexpected return” to the country, according to prosecutors.
She faces federal charges of bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, illegal monetary transactions, and failure to file a report of a foreign bank account.
Following an initial appearance on March 6 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Corado was ordered held without bond pending a March 8 detention hearing. At that hearing, the judge assigned to the case will determine whether she is to remain in jail pending trial or can be released.
Ruby Corado stepped down as executive director of Casa Ruby in 2021 after the D.C. Department of Human Services refused to renew an $840,000-per-year grant to provide emergency shelter bedding to LGBTQ youth, claiming that Casa Ruby had failed to abide by the terms of the grant.
Corado — and others within the organization who later accused her of wrongdoing — disputed that charge, claiming that D.C. government bureaucrats within the Muriel Bowser administration had misread or misunderstood the terms of the grant agreement.
Corado and others also accused DHS officials of retaliating against Casa Ruby by imposing additional red tape and attempting to cut the grant amount in half, to punish the organization for refusing to amend the agreement retroactively.
Following the controversy over the canceled grant, Corado claimed she was stepping down as the executive director and public face of Casa Ruby to avoid being a “distraction.”
Corado was later sued by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, who accused her of funneling more than $400,000 designated for the center into her personal bank accounts, and of violating District of Columbia employment laws by paying workers less than minimum wage as well as failing paying them all the wages they had earned.
Racine sought to freeze Casa Ruby’s bank accounts to prevent Corado from withdrawing additional money. That lawsuit remains ongoing.
Casa Ruby is estimated to have received more than $9.6 million in grants from local government agencies between 2017 and 2022, according to the lawsuit.
After the financial irregularities alleged in Racine’s lawsuit came to light, Corado sold her home in Prince George’s County and fled to her native country of El Salvador, federal prosecutors say.
Her abrupt departure, and uncertainty over the organization’s financial circumstances, forced the closure of Casa Ruby’s housing programs.
As a result, residents in transitional housing were left scrambling to find new options, after the landlords of transitional housing accused the organization of not paying rent and the organization’s low-barrier shelters shuttered.
Soon after, the remainder of the organization’s programs also shuttered, and Casa Ruby was placed into receivership to determine whether it could remain operational or should be dissolved. The Wanda Alston Foundation, named the receiver by a judge, later recommended dissolving the entire operation.
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.