Homeless charity CEO arrested for fraud in LA - He bought a vacation home in Greece, a luxury car

Alexander Shufer, 42, was arrested on Friday at his home, worth $7 million, which investigators estimate he acquired using funds intended for his nonprofit organization “Abundant Blessings,” according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Eshaily.

What the charity was supposed to do
As the AP reports, the charity had contracted with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a county agency, to use taxpayer money to find housing and provide three meals a day to more than 600 homeless people.

What the CEO did instead
Instead, however, prosecutors say Shufer bought a $125,000 Range Rover, a $2,450 Hermès jacket, a vacation home in Greece, and took a trip to Hawaii, where he stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel — known as the setting for the hit HBO series “The White Lotus.”

“He lived a life of luxury while the people who were suffering — the homeless — were living on the streets without shelter and without food,” Eshaily said at a news conference, attended by Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hockman.

How he set up the scam
According to the indictment, Shufer forged invoices claiming to provide fresh meals and rent out rooms, when in reality the homeless were fed canned beans and bulk packages of instant microwave noodles.

Investigators also found that Shufer falsified records to hide the fact that he was paying himself to “rent” properties to house the homeless, which he already owned, the indictment states.