ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA
Federal prosecutors in California have filed separate criminal cases against two men accused of defrauding public programs meant to fund housing for people experiencing homelessness — marking what officials say is the beginning of a sweeping federal crackdown on corruption tied to the state’s homelessness spending.
“Accountability for the misuse of billions of tax dollars intended to combat homeless starts today,” Acting U.S. for the Central District of California Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “The two criminal cases announced is only the tip of the iceberg and we intend to aggressively pursue all leads and hold anyone who broke any federal laws criminally liable.”
Cody Holmes, 31, of Beverly Hills, the former chief financial officer of downtown Los Angeles-based affordable housing developer Shangri-La Industries LLC, was arrested Thursday morning on a federal charge of mail fraud. Prosecutors allege Holmes submitted falsified bank records and balance sheets to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to secure more than $25 million in public “Homekey” grant funding for a Thousand Oaks housing project, despite the bank accounts he claimed contained $160 million in assets not existing…