Transvestite founder of LGBT group caught 2 years after fleeing country; faces federal fraud charges

https://www.theblaze.com/news/transvestite-founder-of-lgbt-group-caught-2-years-after-fleeing-country

JOSEPH MACKINNON

MARCH 11, 2024

The cross-dressing founder of the LGBT activist outfit Casa Ruby fled to El Salvador in 2022 amid mounting concerns over his alleged fraud, money laundering, and other improprieties. After two years of dodging accountability, the Trump critic who calls himself Ruby Corado may finally have to face the music.

FBI agents arrested Corado at a hotel in Laurel, Maryland, on March 5. The LGBT activist has been charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, laundering of monetary instruments, monetary transactions in criminally derived proceeds, and failure to file a report of a foreign bank account.

If convicted on all counts, he could land up to 70 years in prison.

Blaze News previously reported that amid a growing scandal concerning misallocation and misappropriation of funds, former D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine announced in August 2022 that his office would be taking action "to address Casa Ruby's failures in their critical mission to help LGBTQ+ youth."

Casa Ruby is a now-defunct leftist organization based in Washington, D.C., that purportedly aimed "to create success life stories among Transgender, Gender Queer, and Gender Non-conforming Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual people."

WUSA-TV reported that Casa Ruby received nearly $10 million in district grants between 2016 and 2022 and $1.7 million from the D.C. DHS in 2021 alone.

Racine suggested Corado's nonprofit exhibited "clear patterns of mismanagement[;] poor oversight of programs & finances[; and] improper use of District grants & charitable donations."

Racine's initial motion for a restraining order against the LGBT nonprofit claimed that Corado began sucking money out of the organization for personal use by 2021 at the latest, using more than $60,000 to pay his credit bills as well as for meals in and transportation to El Salvador — expenses Casa Ruby's board never approved.

Racine's motion also noted that the D.C. Department of Human Services "authorized the use of $500,000 in Casa Ruby's funds to establish youth housing in El Salvador," but "no Board minutes or any other documentation indicate the Board approved this expense."

Even if the board had approved the foreign housing initiative, the organization's stated charitable purpose would not have supported the use of these funds.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. said last week that the 53-year-old transvestite also received $1.3 million from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. Corado allegedly "stole at least $150,000 by transferring the money to bank accounts in El Salvador, which [he] hid from the IRS."

An amended complaint filed by Racine in November 2022 suggested Corado had ultimately siphoned over $400,000 from Casa Ruby into his personal accounts, reported WRC-TV.

When Corado's financial irregularities first came to light, Corado sold his house in Prince Georges County for $775,000, allegedly emptied the nonprofit's coffers, then took off to his native country, leaving behind unpaid employees, unpaid vendors, and eviction notices from multiple properties for failure to pay rent.

Three of the nonprofit's landlords brought legal action against the nonprofit, claiming they were owed more than $1 million in back rent.

WUSA reported that Corado, considered a flight risk, was held in a men's jail over the weekend. Judge Robin Meriweather of the Prettyman Federal Courthouse is expected to rule Tuesday on whether the alleged fraudster will remain in jail until his trial.

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