Abundant Blessings Ex-Chief Agrees to Plead Guilty, Forfeit $2M

Alexander Soofer, the former executive director of South LA nonprofit Abundant Blessings, has agreed to plead guilty to federal wire fraud and money laundering charges, admitting he pocketed at least $2 million in homelessness funds, according to a plea agreement federal prosecutors announced in September. A signed plea agreement is not a courtroom adjudication, and we could not independently confirm that a guilty plea has been formally entered in court.

Why it matters

Abundant Blessings operated as a pass-through for public homeless-services money, the kind of vendor that the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and its network of subcontracted nonprofits depend on to actually house people. For developers and operators who work alongside LAHSA-funded housing programs, the case is a reminder that government contracts get awarded on paperwork, and that paperwork can be faked. The complaint alleges Soofer fabricated vendor and rent invoices, in some cases using the stolen names, logos and addresses of real companies to make the paper trail look legitimate.

The numbers

Federal prosecutors say Abundant Blessings received more than $23 million in homelessness funding between 2018 and 2025: over $5 million flowed directly from LAHSA, and more than $17 million passed through downtown LA nonprofit Special Service for Groups Inc. Prosecutors allege diverted money went toward a $7 million Westwood house, where Soofer was arrested, plus a $125,000 Range Rover, private school tuition and a vacation home in Greece. In the plea agreement, Soofer admitted pocketing at least $2 million, which he agreed to forfeit; prosecutors had earlier alleged at least $10 million was diverted. The wire fraud count alone carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

What’s next

Soofer still faces separate Los Angeles County District Attorney charges, including 11 felony counts of conflict of interest, five counts of forgery and two counts of offering false evidence; he had previously pleaded not guilty to those state counts, and nothing in the federal plea agreement resolves that case. Prosecutors say Soofer paid roughly $180,000 in bribes to Lakiya Malone, an employee of Special Service for Groups, in exchange for billing for participants who did not exist. For Los Angeles developers and contractors bidding into homelessness-funded housing programs, expect tighter vendor-verification requirements as agencies respond to the exposure.