San Francisco resident sentenced to one year in prison for stealing over $340,000 in funds intended for low-income families

Date: Sept. 11, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

SAN FRANCISCO - Gregory Finkelson was sentenced to one year in prison for theft of government property in connection with his fraudulent receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars in low-income housing benefits, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey; IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Michael Mosley of the Oakland Field Office; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp; and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Special Agent in Charge Mark Kaminsky. Finkelson's sentence was imposed by the Honorable James Donato, United States District Judge, on Sept. 9, 2023.

The Section 8 Certificate Program is a rent subsidy program funded by HUD and administered in San Francisco by the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA). The program is intended to help low- and moderate-income families afford housing, and it has income limits and other eligibility requirements that applicants must meet to qualify for assistance.

In his plea agreement, Finkelson admitted that, between approximately August 2006 and February 2020, he wrongfully claimed $341,455 in Section 8 Program subsidies by falsely reporting that he did not own his San Francisco residence, which he bought using a straw purchaser, and that he was merely an employee of a company that he in fact owned and operated out of his residence. Specifically, Finkelson admitted that he used the name of a Russian national living in Russia to purchase his San Francisco home, claiming, wrongfully, that she was his landlord and that he made rent payments to her. Finkelson also admitted he opened several bank accounts, including in the Russian national's name, and that he used these bank accounts to conceal his use of the ill-gotten Section 8 Program subsidies. He then used the funds he fraudulently obtained to benefit himself, including by funding his business, paying his credit card bills, and making payments on a timeshare in Hawaii. His residence is now worth $2.4 million.

In a memorandum filed for the sentencing, the government noted that Finkelson continued his fraudulent conduct even after SFHA acted to terminate his Section 8 subsidies. Because of his conduct, the government argued, Finkelson deprived low-income families actually in need of housing over the entire period of his scheme. According to the government, Finkelson's actions damaged public trust in the government's role as a fiduciary for taxpayer dollars.

Finkelson was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 25, 2023. He pleaded guilty on May 7, 2024, to theft of government property and aiding and abetting, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 641 and 2.

In addition to the one-year term of imprisonment, Judge Donato further sentenced Finkelson to a three-year period of supervision following his release from prison and ordered Finkelson to pay $341,455 in restitution, which represents the total amount he admitted he stole from the government. Finkelson was ordered to surrender into custody on Sept. 16, 2024.

Assistant United States Attorneys Christiaan Highsmith and Kevin Yeh are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Claudia Hyslop. The prosecution is the result of a joint investigation by the IRS-CI, FBI, and HUD OIG, with assistance from SFHA.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.