A transgender activist who founded one of the few homeless shelters in Washington, D.C., that catered to LGBTQ individuals was sentenced Tuesday to nearly three years in prison and ordered to pay more than $900,000 in restitution.
Ruby Corado, 56, pleaded guilty to diverting federal pandemic relief funds meant for her nonprofit organization into personal offshore bank accounts in El Salvador.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, an appointee of President Donald Trump, ordered Corado, a legal permanent U.S. resident, to immediately report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, acknowledging that "deportation is likely, if not certain" in her case.
"I am sorry that my mistake impacted my work," Corado told McFadden ahead of her sentencing.
She said she was in over her head and that the money was intended to open a shelter for LGBTQ individuals in her home country of El Salvador.
"I am very dubious of that," McFadden reportedly told Corado, noting her team never provided evidence of any attempt to apply for nonprofit status in El Salvador or documentation showing she had secured a building for a shelter.
"You betrayed this country," McFadden said, arguing that Corado stole funds at a time when U.S. homeless populations were among the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"You spotted an opportunity to defraud the American people."
McFadden sentenced Corado to 33 months in prison, ordered her to pay $956,215 in restitution to the Small Business Administration, and imposed two years of supervised release, contingent on her not being deported to El Salvador.
"Corado received more than $1.3 million from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for the nonprofit Casa Ruby," Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement.
"Instead of using the funds as promised, Corado stole over $950,000, transferred at least $150,000 to bank accounts in El Salvador, and hid it from the IRS."
According to court documents, when financial irregularities at Casa Ruby became public in 2022, Corado sold her home in Prince George's County, Maryland, and fled to El Salvador.
FBI agents arrested Corado on March 5, 2024, at a hotel in Laurel, Maryland, after she quietly and unexpectedly returned to the U.S.
Corado's attorney, Pleasant Brodnax, argued that ordering a prison sentence would place Corado, a trans woman, in danger.
Brodnax said Corado had been sexually assaulted multiple times.
He warned that while she awaits deportation proceedings, incarceration could place her in a men's prison under Trump administration policies that assign inmates based on biological sex.
"It would be cruel and unusual punishment in her unique circumstances," Brodnax said, urging McFadden to impose a more lenient sentence of time served, about 18 months of home confinement, along with restitution.
"The size of what [Casa Ruby] was trying to do may have exceeded the capacity of the person running the organization," Brodnax said.
"Sometimes, you're just in over your head."
McFadden rejected the request, saying a reduced sentence would amount to sex discrimination.
"People should be treated equally,” he said, adding that he would not treat Corado "more favorably because you are transgender."
Corado's legal troubles might not be over.
In 2022, the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General filed a civil lawsuit alleging Casa Ruby employees went unpaid.
The office secured a judgment holding Corado personally responsible for failing to pay workers.
That civil case had been paused while the criminal matter was pending.
Now that Corado has been sentenced, a judge could allow the civil case to proceed.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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