Homeless Industrial Complex executive Alexander Soofer had a rude awakening at his $7 million Los Angeles mansion at 6 AM Friday morning: FBI and IRS-CI agents were at the door to arrest him on wire fraud charges related to his charity (and we use that term loosely), Abundant Blessings.
Through Abundant Blessings, Soofer contracted with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to provide housing and supportive services for people who were homeless or at risk of homelessness, including providing three nutritious meals a day to 600 program participants. Instead of providing nutritious meals, Soofer gave them "ramen noodles and a microwave, " First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a press conference. Photos in the criminal complaint also show cans of beans and corn, breakfast bars, and a small, dirty microwave.
RELATED: Feds Investigating Los Angeles Homeless Industrial Complex Spending - Here's How We Got Here
Between 2018 and 2025 Abundant Blessings received more than $23 million through these contracts. Prosecutors allege that Soofer "pocketed at least $10 million," using the money to fund a lavish lifestyle, including a "down payment on his $7 million Westwood home, millions of dollars of upgrades to that home, private schooling for his children, lavish spending in Las Vegas, private jet travel, and stays at luxury resorts across the United States – from Hawaii to Florida. Soofer also appeared to use $475,000 to purchase a vacation property in Greece, sending this money to a Greek property developer."
🚨BREAKING - ARREST IN CA HOMELESSNESS FRAUD CASE
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) January 23, 2026
Alexander Soofer's "Abundant Blessings" got $23 million from LAHSA to provide, among other things, nutritious meals for the homeless. Soofer pocketed most of the $, and provided the homeless w/ "ramen noodles and a microwave"… pic.twitter.com/lQcpbqCjmN
That Range Rover was seized in Friday morning's raid.
WATCH: Range Rover is towed away from swanky LA mansion -- this is believed to be tied to a suspect arrested by Feds in a pre-dawn bust. Man is accused to misusing tens-of-millions in taxpayer homeless dollars towards a lavish lifestyle. pic.twitter.com/Wt3vmylfJ6
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) January 23, 2026
The US Attorney's office outlined Soofer's fraud in a press release announcing the arrest.
In some contracts, Soofer agreed to house participants at sites he managed. In other contracts, he committed to pay third parties, including hotels or motels, to provide this housing.
[Soofer] also lied about payments supposedly being made to third party vendors for homeless housing services and took steps to conceal that he was diverting the money to his personal bank accounts.
He also made it falsely appear he was leasing properties for homeless housing from third-party landlords at a market rate, when he was instead paying himself above market rate and again misappropriating money that could have been used to help alleviate the homeless housing crisis.
To cover up the fraud, Soofer fabricated fake and misleading invoices – at times stealing the names, addresses, and logos of real companies – to make it appear that the vendor and rent payments were legitimate.
When LAHSA received complaints about Abundant Blessings through its hotline and noticed discrepancies in Soofer's billing and services, investigators conducted site visits and found that he was not providing the agreed-upon nutritious meals. A LAHSA investigator confronted Soofer about his expenditures and asked him if Abundant Blessings board members knew how he was spending money, and Soofer said they did - but the investigator later determined "the board was fake – some of the people did not exist, and others had never heard of Abundant Blessings or Soofer."
Essayli was asked during a press conference if this case illustrated a failure of vetting and replied that in his opinion, as a former California legislator who pushed for full audits of homelessness spending, there was no vetting, and that dollars were being pushed to NGOs as quickly as possible so legislators could brag in press conferences about the vast amounts they were throwing at the problem, with no regard for how effectively they were being used. Essayli added:
“California is the poster child of rampant fraud, waste, and abuse of tax dollars. The state has facilitated the spending of billions of dollars to combat homelessness, with little to show for it and almost no oversight. Thankfully, the federal government has begun auditing California’s spending and today’s arrest is just one example of how fraudsters have swindled millions of dollars from tax papers. This money should have gone to those in need, instead in lines the pockets of individuals subsidizing their lavish lifestyle.”
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has filed conflict-of-interest charges against Soofer for failing to disclose that he owned many of the companies he claimed were subcontractors under his contract. Hochman noted that if Soofer is convicted and sent to prison, he will receive the basics - a roof over his head, a warm bed, and three squares a day - that he denied the homeless people he was charged with serving.
MORE ON LOS ANGELES HOMELESS FRAUD: Los Angeles' Latest Housing Scandal Exposes Wall Street Windfall
Friday's arrest is the latest for Essayli's Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force. In October Cody Holmes, former CFO of Shangri-La Industries, and real estate developer Steven Taylor were charged with fraudulently obtaining a total of more than $50 million in homelessness funds in elaborate real estate schemes.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed multiple bills passed in the legislature to monitor and track how state homelessness funds are spent, most recently in 2024.
Editor’s Note: Help us continue to report the truth about the Homeless Industrial Complex.
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