{"id":538482,"date":"2026-01-24T02:57:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/538482\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T02:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:57:21","slug":"gavin-newsom-roasted-as-la-23m-homeless-fraud-investigation-nabs-suspect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/538482\/","title":{"rendered":"Gavin Newsom roasted as LA $23M homeless fraud investigation nabs suspect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom Friday over a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/23\/us-news\/la-charity-head-accused-of-stealing-23-million-in-pubic-funds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$23 million homeless services fraud scheme<\/a>, saying the state handed out taxpayer dollars with \u201czero vetting and zero oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll you have done is hand out money to fraudsters and illegal immigrants,\u201d Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, wrote on X. \u201cTaxpaying citizens deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38271906\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/us-governor-california-gavin-newsom-119280611_b09139.jpg\" alt=\"Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, speaks to the press at the World Economic Forum annual meeting.\" class=\"wp-image-38271906\"  \/>The state\u2019s top prosecutor said taxpayer dollars were handed out with \u201czero vetting.\u201d AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>His response came<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/23\/us-news\/fervid-foes-trump-and-gavin-newsom-were-palling-around-backstage-at-davos-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> after Newsom <\/a>defended himself from criticism over the fraud, denying any wrongdoing in the state and insisting California enforces accountability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/22\/us-news\/president-trump-blasts-gov-newscum-for-embarrassing-us-at-davos-while-california-crumbles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Unlike Donald Trump<\/a>, who pardons fraudsters,\u00a0@CAGovernor\u00a0Gavin Newsom demands anyone who steals taxpayer dollars be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,\u201d Newsom\u2019s official press account wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Friday, federal authorities announced the arrest of Alexander Soofer, a Westwood man charged with fraudulently obtaining $23 million in public funds meant for homelessness programs and pocketing at least $10 million for personal luxuries, including a $7 million home, a Range Rover, private schooling, and private jet travel.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38271904\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bill-essayli-acting-u-s-115730656.jpg\" alt=\"Bill Essayli speaking at a news conference.\" class=\"wp-image-38271904\"  \/>Bill Essayli said all Newsom has done is hand money out to \u201cfraudsters and illegal immigrants.\u201d AP<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCalifornia is the poster child of rampant fraud, waste, and abuse of tax dollars,\u201d Essayli said in a press release. \u201cThe state has facilitated the spending of billions of dollars to combat homelessness, with little to show for it and almost no oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LA Mayor Karen Bass called the alleged crime \u201cdespicable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s despicable that Mr. Soofer lied to the city and LAHSA for his personal gain and took advantage of taxpayer funds meant to help unhoused Angelenos across South Los Angeles,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Soofer was released Friday on $1.5 million bond.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration launched a task force to investigate corruption in California, with a focus on homeless services. It has already led to federal charges against two men accused of exploiting real estate projects to profit from the state\u2019s homelessness system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom Friday over a\u00a0$23 million homeless services fraud&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":538483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,820,1854,2961,224,5337,1154],"class_list":{"0":"post-538482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-fraud","11":"tag-gavin-newsom","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-losangeles","15":"tag-us-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115947834272613466","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}