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Ruby Corado, 53, made her initial court appearance in DC on Wednesday to face charges for allegedly defrauding Paycheck Protection and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs, and money laundering after fleeing the country, authorities announced.
Specifically, Corado is accused of diverting at least $150,000 of $1.3 million in taxpayer-backed emergency relief funds, intended for the organization, to private bank accounts off-shore for her personal use.
According to court documents, Corado stole the cash by transferring money to bank accounts in El Salvador, which she hid from the IRS.
In 2022, when financial irregularities at Casa Ruby became public, Corado sold her home in Prince Georges County and fled to El Salvador, federal officials say.
"Casa Ruby effectively ceased operations in July 2022 when it shuttered its transitional housing, failed to pay its employees, and faced eviction from multiple properties for failure to pay rent," investigators said.
FBI agents arrested Corado on Tuesday, March 5, at a hotel in Laurel, after her unexpected return to the United States, they added.
"I manage the daily administration and operations of Casa Ruby a Bilingual Multicultural LGBT Organization," Corado's LinkedIn account states.
"My focus is policy and direct services to individuals that because of their sexual (o)rientation, gender identity/expression encounter many barriers and obstacles that keep them from achieving their full potential."
My mission is to create success stories among those that society deems disposable.
Corado was charged in a complaint with bank fraud, wire fraud, laundering of monetary instruments, monetary transactions in criminally derived proceeds, and failure to file a report of foreign bank account.
She is being held pending a detention hearing on Friday.
Corado faces decades in prison if she is convicted.
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