Federal prosecutors are taking aim at fraud and corruption with homelessness funding in Southern California.
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced Tuesday that his office has formed the Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force to investigate fraud, waste, abuse and corruption in funding that has been allocated to address homelessness in the counties that are in the Central District of California.
The big picture: Federal prosecutors from the Major Frauds Section, the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section and the Civil Division’s Civil Fraud Section in the Central District will be part of the task force.
- The Central District covers around 20 million Californians across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
- The task force will investigate crimes related to the misappropriation of federal tax dollars that are intended to address homelessness and will prioritize a review of federal, state and local programs receiving federal grants and funding.
- Prosecutors will also investigate fraud schemes that involve the theft of private donations that were intended to provide support and services for the homeless.
Zoom in; Los Angeles County deals with the worst of the homelessness crisis in the state, with a homeless population of over 75,000, including 45,000 within the City of Los Angeles itself.
- The move comes just one week after Essayli resigned his seat in the California Assembly to accept the nomination from President Donald Trump to be the U.S. Attorney for the Central District.
Driving the news: California has spent billions of dollars to address homelessness with very little to show for it.
- The federal government sent $100 million in emergency aid to Los Angeles County to address homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- And just last month the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded over $200 million to fight homelessness in Los Angeles.
What he’s saying: “California has spent more than $24 billion over the past five years to address homelessness,” Essayli said. “But officials have been unable to account for all the expenditures and outcomes, and the homeless crisis has only gotten worse. Taxpayers deserve answers for where and how their hard-earned money has been spent. If state and local officials cannot provide proper oversight and accountability, we will do it for them. If we discover any federal laws were violated, we will make arrests.”
