Federal law enforcement has arrested two employees of homelessness-focused nonprofits in California on corruption charges, accusing them of misusing millions of dollars in public funds. The U.S. Justice Department arrested Michael Young, founder of the Culver City-based nonprofit Home At Last, and Lakiya Malone, an employee of the Los Angeles-based Special Service for Groups. Both are expected to appear in court on Wednesday. Young is charged with wire fraud in a scheme to embezzle over $7.5 million from public contracts with Los Angeles County and other government agencies. He allegedly used the stolen funds to open a high-end restaurant, nightclub, and bingo hall. Malone is accused of accepting more than $180,000 in bribes and kickbacks from Alexander Soofer, the director of another homelessness nonprofit, who has already agreed to plead guilty in a separate case. The Justice Department is also seeking to arrest Donye Mitchell, CEO of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit The Big Blue Umbrella. Mitchell is charged with wire fraud for allegedly obtaining $1.2 million in public grant money and using it for personal expenses, including bail bonds, credit card debt, and purchases of a video game console. Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the National Fraud Enforcement Division said, “My message to every fraudster who steals from the vulnerable is clear: we will track you down, bring charges where the evidence leads, and work relentlessly to reclaim every taxpayer dollar you stole.” The investigation was led by the Homeless Fraud and Corruption Task Force, established last year by U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli to investigate fraud, waste, and corruption in funds allocated to combat homelessness in the seven-county central district of California. The arrests follow increasing efforts by the Trump administration to identify and address what it calls “fraud” in so-called “blue states,” including California. In April, former President Donald Trump named JD Vance his “fraud czar” with a focus on investigating states where he claims “crooked Democrat politicians” have misused taxpayer money. Earlier this year, the administration froze federal childcare funding to Minnesota and halted over a quarter of a billion dollars in Medicaid funds to the state, citing concerns about misuse. This summer, the Trump administration suspended federal funding to Los Angeles’s homelessness agency, LAHSA, pending an investigation into fraud allegations. At the time, about 8% of LAHSA’s budget came from federal funds. Earlier this week, 12 people in southern California were charged with fraudulently collecting $10 million in government childcare payments, despite allegedly caring for few or no children. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner warned at a press conference, “If you fail the taxpayer, if you fail our cities, if you fail our shared mission of ending homelessness, there will be consequences and we will cut you off.”