DC transgender activist gets 3 years in prison, ordered to repay $956K for COVID relief fraud

The founder of a nonprofit that provided LGBTQ+ services in the Washington, D.C. area was sentenced Tuesday to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay $956,215 in restitution for diverting federal COVID-19 relief funds.

The founder, transgender activist Ruby Corado, was also ordered to be under two years of supervised release after the prison sentence, if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement doesn't move to deport Corado, Judge Trevor McFadden said in the sentencing hearing.

McFadden in announcing the sentence said Corado “found an opportunity to defraud U.S. Americans," instead of helping them, according DCNewsNow.com. 

Corado, also known as Vladimir Orlando Artiga Corado, pleaded guilty July 17, 2024, to wire fraud. 

Corado received more than $1.3 million from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for Casa Ruby. 

“Instead of using the funds as promised, Corado stole over $950,000, transferred at least $150,000 to bank accounts in El Salvador, and hid it from the IRS," U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said. The money is to be repaid to the Small Business Administration.

“I never intended to become a fugitive," Corado said during the hearing. “I want to tell you how sorry I am."

The nonprofit, which provided shelter and services for minors identifying as LGBTQ, opened in 2012, expanded over the next decade from millions it received in awards, grants and donations. It closed in 2022, following accusations of financial mismanagement and fraud.

Early in the potential fraud investigation, Corado was arrested and charged in connection with diverting at least $200,000 in COVID relief funds to a private offshore bank account in El Salvador.

In 2022, when financial irregularities at Casa Ruby became public, Corado sold her home in Prince Georges County, Maryland, and fled to El Salvador. FBI agents arrested Corado on March 5, 2024, at a hotel in Laurel, Maryland, when she unexpectedly returned to the United States, according to the Justice Department.