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California officials have arrested a man who allegedly used tens-of-millions of taxpayer dollars meant to house and feed the homeless to fund his lavish lifestyle, Fox News has learned.
Law enforcement took the man into custody in a pre-dawn bust at his multi-million-dollar mansion in Los Angeles. Federal authorities, who claim the man used the funds to make improvements on his luxury home, later arrived to tow his Range Rover.
The bust comes after independent journalist Nick Shirley, who worked to expose the fraud scandal in Minnesota, told Congress that the fraud in California could be “worse” than what he found in the North Star State. Shirley made the remark in response to a question posed by Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., about whether his state was showing similar signs of fraud to what was seen in Minnesota.
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Tents of homeless people are seen on a sidewalk amid rainfall on Jan. 3, 2026, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
“Fraud in California might be even worse than the fraud in Minnesota,” Shirley said. When asked to elaborate, he noted the missing $24 billion in homeless funds, as well as various other projects and issues that, in his opinion, appear to signal fraud.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference about “New Funding for Homelessness and Mental Health Efforts” and criticized President Trump over ICE operations in San Francisco, Calif., on Jan. 16, 2026. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Earlier this month, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli dubbed Gov. Gavin Newsom the “king of fraud.”
“California has spent $24 billion in the last five years on homelessness, and no one can account for where that money has really gone,” Essayli told “Fox & Friends” earlier this month.
Early in the morning at the intersection of Jones and Turk Streets Urban Alchemys Danielle LeBlue calls the police when a homeless person still remains asleep as the sidewalks are cleaned in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, California Wednesday January 26, 2022. (Getty Images)
In April, Essayli launched a task force to investigate corruption in California, with a focus on homeless services. The task force has already resulted in federal charges against two men accused of using real estate projects to exploit the state’s homelessness system for personal profit.
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Essayli said those cases, which involve millions of dollars in alleged fraud, are only the “tip of the iceberg.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.
