Feds announce charges against man who allegedly misused $23 million in homelessness funding

Federal officials announced on Friday they arrested the head of a homelessness charity based in Hyde Park on allegations of wire fraud. According to officials, 42-year-old Alexander Soofer fraudulently obtained $23 million in public dollars meant to house and feed 600 homeless people. Soofer allegedly used at least $10 million of the money to buy homes, designer items and fund his kids’ private school educations. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

Details of the case: Soofer is the executive director of Abundant Blessings, which was founded in 2018 to “end homelessness,” according to a profile of the charity on LinkedIn. Five million dollars came directly from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, and the remaining $17 million came from a downtown L.A. nonprofit, which according to the complaint, “received its funding from LAHSA.” Officials allege that among other things, Soofer used public funds to buy a $7 million home in Westwood, nearly half-a-million-dollar vacation home in Greece, $125,000 Range Rover and thousands in items from Hermes and Chanel.

Local Investigations: LAHSA and the L.A. City Controller’s Office investigated Soofer. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Friday that Soofer lied to the auditors from both organizations and provided them fake documents. LAHSA terminated its contracts with Abundant Blessings following its investigation and referred the case to the DA’s office, the federal complaint says.

State charges, too: Parallel to the federal case, Hochman announced his office has charged Soofer with 11 felony counts of conflict of interest, two felony counts of offering false evidence and five felony counts of forgery related to the money he received from LAHSA. If convicted on all state charges, Soofer faces more than 17 years in state prison and county jail.

Other reactions: LAist has reached out to LAHSA for comment. When reached by phone Friday morning, someone named Naomi with the downtown L.A. nonprofit that provided funding to Abundant Blessings said “I don’t have information” about the case and abruptly hung up the phone. The City Controller’s office said there is a “significant lack of contractor oversight by City Departments,” which creates the opportunity for public funds to be misused.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said in response to Friday's announcement that her administration has "zero tolerance for fraud" and called the allegations against Soofer "despicable."