Two Arrested, One Fugitive in Separate Los Angeles Homelessness-Fund Cases

Two arrests, one fugitive—and three separate cases

LOS ANGELES — Federal agents arrested two Los Angeles-area nonprofit figures Wednesday and are seeking a third person in three separate criminal cases alleging that money intended to house and support unhoused residents was redirected through sham vendors, false grant claims, bribes and fabricated participant records.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California identifies the arrested defendants as Michael Young, 46, of Baldwin Hills, and Lakiya Malone, 48, of South Los Angeles. Donye Mitchell, 55, of Orange, is charged with wire fraud and is considered a fugitive, according to prosecutors. The Associated Press independently reported the arrests and Mitchell's status Wednesday.

The cases were announced together, but the public charging summaries do not accuse all three people of joining one conspiracy. Young and Mitchell were charged by criminal complaint; Malone faces a 21-count indictment. Those documents state allegations, not findings of guilt, and each newly charged defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted.

Young is accused of routing housing money through sham vendors

Young founded Home At Last, a Culver City-based homelessness nonprofit that received more than $118 million from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the City and County of Los Angeles and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to the federal announcement. Prosecutors say LAHSA alone paid the organization more than $75 million for housing services.

The complaint alleges that Young created vendors with no employees, locations or legitimate operations, then used fake bids, forged signatures and fraudulent invoices to make them appear independent. Prosecutors say he controlled the vendors' bank accounts and diverted more than $7.5 million through that alleged scheme.

The government alleges that diverted money helped finance commercial properties, luxury travel, vintage-car restoration and more than $1 million in spending tied to the Six Seven Five Lounge, an Inglewood restaurant and nightclub. LAHSA canceled its Home At Last contracts in June 2026, according to the Justice Department.

The announcement includes a broader official statement alleging that Young misappropriated more than $12 million, while its detailed case summary specifically attributes more than $7.5 million to the alleged sham-vendor fraud. Neither figure is a court-ordered loss finding, restitution award or conviction, and this report does not collapse the two figures into one proven total.

Mitchell allegedly won a grant with false claims, then spent it personally

Mitchell is the CEO and executive director of The Big Blue Umbrella, prosecutors say. His complaint alleges that the organization sought more than $9 million from Amity Foundation, a Los Angeles County-funded nonprofit, and was awarded more than $1.2 million to provide housing and mental-health services.

Federal prosecutors allege that Mitchell exaggerated the organization's housing work and falsely described its relationship with another service provider. They say grant money instead went toward salary payments, bail-bond costs, credit-card debt, family transfers, rent and PlayStation charges.

Amity terminated the contract in May 2025 after disbursing approximately $315,000, according to the charging summary. The difference between the award amount and the amount reportedly disbursed matters: the record reviewed for this report does not establish that Mitchell received the full $1.2 million award.

Mitchell's fugitive designation means prosecutors say he has not been taken into custody. It does not prove the wire-fraud allegation, and no plea or defense response was reported in the reviewed sources.

Malone's indictment alleges bribes and 'ghost' housing participants

Malone worked for Special Service for Groups, where her role included referring unhoused people to housing funded by HUD, LAHSA and local governments, prosecutors say. Her indictment alleges that she accepted more than $180,000 in bribes and kickbacks from Alexander Soofer, executive director of Abundant Blessings.

In exchange, prosecutors allege, Malone supplied priority referrals and helped create records for people who never lived at the sites. The announcement describes checks to Malone and an entity she controlled as purported consulting fees tied to referrals and alleges the use of false welcome letters, sign-in sheets and eligibility forms.

Soofer's status is procedurally different from the three newly charged defendants. Prosecutors say he signed a plea agreement admitting that he obtained $23 million in public money, at least some through fraud, and pocketed at least $2 million. The Justice Department says he has agreed to plead guilty and is expected to enter the plea in coming weeks; that is not the same as a completed guilty plea already accepted by a judge.

What the public record confirms—and what remains unproven

Confirmed by Wednesday's public record: Young and Malone were arrested; Mitchell remains wanted; federal prosecutors filed three separate cases; and investigators from the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation and HUD's inspector general are working on the matters.

Still unproven are the allegations that Young, Mitchell or Malone knowingly committed fraud, bribery or related offenses and the precise amount of any criminal loss attributable to each person. Statutory maximum sentences describe the upper limit authorized by law, not the punishment a court has decided to impose.

The cases also do not establish that every Los Angeles homelessness provider, employee or participant engaged in misconduct. Accountability should follow named defendants, specific contracts and tested evidence—not a blanket accusation against organizations serving unhoused people.

About the image

The accompanying image is an authentic April 2021 photograph of the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Los Angeles by Wikimedia Commons contributor DocFreeman24. The photographer licensed the image under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.

The courthouse photograph provides geographic and institutional context only. It does not show a defendant, nonprofit office, arrest, initial appearance, charging document, public contract or evidence, and its use does not imply endorsement by the photographer, the court or Wikimedia Commons.