Left-wing activist Ruby Corado was sentenced to 33 months in prison and restitution of over $950,000 after previously pleading guilty to wire fraud in connection with a COVID-19 money laundering scheme.
Corado, also known as “Vladimir Orlando Artiga Corado,” ran Casa Ruby, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit whose stated mission was to support LGBTQ homeless youth and immigrants, according to a Tuesday press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.
The rampant financial mismanagement allegedly included a diversion of $150,000 or more to Corado from COVID-19 payouts, according to the release.
When the Department of Justice (DOJ) tried to freeze Ruby’s bank accounts, Corado allegedly fled to El Salvador in 2022 with some of the organization’s funds, The Washington Post reported. Casa Ruby closed its doors in July 2022. (RELATED: LGBT Nonprofit Leader Locked Out Of Bank Accounts, Flees To El Salvador Amid Investigation)
Corado returned to Laurel, Maryland, where the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested her in March 2024, according to WUSA9.
Corado claimed the funds were withdrawn not for personal use, but to help homeless LGBTQ youth in El Salvador. District Judge Trevor McFadden declared Corado’s deportation “likely if not certain,” according to WUSA9.
Ruby Jade Corado, the founder of the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit Casa Ruby, Inc., has been sentenced to 33 months in prison for diverting at least $150,000 in taxpayer-backed emergency COVID-19 relief funds to private offshore bank accounts.https://t.co/5XUPh7vioz
— 7News DC (@7NewsDC) January 14, 2026
The $951,215 Corado owes in restitution will go to the Small Business Administration, the D.C. Attorney’s Office stated.
Corado’s attorney, Pleasant S. Brodnax, III, pushed for a sentence of “time-served” in a Jan. 6 sentencing memorandum, claiming Corado lacked a criminal history. Corado is also transgender, according to Brodnax. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Suicide Hotline Operator Pushes ‘Radical’ Trans Ideology In Open Revolt Against Trump Admin)
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro submitted a memorandum in October recommending the 33-month prison sentence imposed on behalf of “the ultimate victim of the financial fraud … the taxpayers.”
Pirro stated that Corado funneled COVID-19 funds to offshore bank accounts and left employees, Corado’s landlord and partners “flat broke.”