Fraud charges for boss of L.A. charity

Leader of Abundant Blessings is accused of stealing money meant for homeless services.

- BY SONJA SHARP AND ANDREW KHOURI

U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli ALEXANDER Soofer, 42, was arrested Friday on wire fraud charges.

A man accused of fleecing L.A.’s homeless services bureaucracy of $23 million was arrested at his Westwood home early Friday as part of an ongoing multiagency probe into the county’s multibillion-dollar efforts to tamp down encampments and bring more people in off the streets.

"There was no vetting process, there was no accounting going on," said Bill Essayli, who leads the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A. “We will find out where every dollar went. We want to get to the bottom of the fraud.”

Alexander Soofer, 42, was charged with wire fraud amid allegations he used his Hyde Park-based program Abundant Blessings to line the pockets of his $2,450 Hermes trotting jacket with millions in taxpayer dollars from Inside Safe and Measure H.

Soofer has not yet entered a plea in response to the charges and his attorney, Hilary Potashner, declined to comment Friday.

According to the indictment against him, Soofer charged L.A. agencies to feed and house more than 600 people, then funneled the cash into a $7-million home in Westwood, private school tuition, “White Lotus”-style vacations, a second home in Greece and pricey Hermes goodies.