Founder of Casa Ruby Pleads Guilty to Stealing At Least $150,000 in COVID-Relief Funds for Personal Use

WASHINGTON - Ruby Corado, 53, the founder of Casa Ruby, Inc., a Washington D.C.-based non-profit that provided services to the LGBTQ+ community, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to diverting at least $150,000 in taxpayer-backed emergency Covid relief funds to private off-shore bank accounts for her personal use.

The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Scott of the Washington Field Office, and District of Columbia Inspector General Daniel W. Lucas.

Corado was charged by complaint on March 1, 2024, 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.

Corado pleaded guilty today to a one-count information charging her with wire fraud today before U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, who scheduled sentencing for January 10, 2025.

According to court documents, Corado, on behalf of Casa Ruby, received more than $1.3 million from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. Instead of using the funds as she promised, Corado stole at least $150,000 by transferring the money to bank accounts in El Salvador, which she hid from the IRS. During 2022, when financial irregularities at Casa Ruby became public, Corado sold her home in Prince Georges County and fled to El Salvador. FBI agents arrested Corado on March 5, 2024, at a hotel in Laurel, Maryland, after she unexpectedly returned to the United States.

Casa Ruby had claimed to provide housing services for homeless LGBTQ+ youth including transitional housing; to assist LGBTQ+ immigrants and connect them to attorneys; to provide social services such as case management and therapeutic mental health support for survivors of violence, and to assist with a wide array of services such as assisting with passport applications and certain visa applications. The non-profit's website stated that Casa Ruby employed over 50 people and provided more than 30,000 social and human services to more than 6,000 people each year. At various times, Casa Ruby operated multiple shelters in Washington, D.C., that provided transitional housing.

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.

Wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. Corado's sentence will be determined by the court based on the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office and the D.C. Office of Inspector General. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Borchert, Madhu Chugh, and Kathryn Rakoczy.

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