29 yr old CFO accused of embezzling millions of dollars slated for California homeless housing

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

A Ferrari, a $111K Birkin bag: CFO stole millions, developer of T.O. homeless project says



When developer Shangri-La Industries stopped paying its bills and stopped its state-funded work turning motels in Thousand Oaks and other cities into housing for the homeless, one of the big unanswered questions was: What happened to the money?

Shangri-La has now provided its answer: The company’s recently fired chief financial officer took it and spent much of it on Beverly Hills real estate, expensive cars, private jet travel, VIP passes to Coachella and more than a quarter of a million dollars in jewelry and handbags for his girlfriend.

Last month, Shangri-La, its CEO and companies affiliated with it filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Cody Holmes, who was the companies’ CFO until he was fired in January. The lawsuit accuses Holmes of misappropriating millions of dollars from Shangri-La and the other businesses, including some of the $117 million in state funds the company was awarded under Project Homekey, a state program to fund the conversion of hotels into low-cost housing and service centers for the homeless.

One of Shangri-La’s seven Homekey properties in California is the former Quality Inn & Suites in Thousand Oaks. Shangri-La was awarded a $26.7 million Homekey grant in 2022 to buy the motel and convert its rooms into 77 studio apartments for homeless people with counseling and other services on site.

Work began last summer and stopped a few months later. Shangri-La is in default on two loans on the property and has been sued by contractors who say they’re owed millions of dollars for work the developer never paid for.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/a-ferrari-a-111k-birkin-bag-cfo-stole-millions-developer-of-to-homeless-project-says/ar-BB1keg48

Shangri-La, which is being sued by state housing authorities for breaching the terms of its agreement under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature Project Homekey program, alleges in a lawsuit that former CFO Cody Holmes, 29, engaged in bank fraud and check kiting in 2022 and 2023 with Shangri-La’s lenders, banks and brokers.

The suit, filed last month in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks more than $40 million in damages and other costs.

Holmes, according to the lawsuit, allegedly transferred vast sums of company cash and property to bank accounts and shell companies he set up and controlled and to his suspected ex-girlfriend, Madeline Witt, 28, who is a defendant in the lawsuit.

He used the money to host extravagant parties, cover $46,000 a month in rent at a leased home in Beverly Hills, travel regularly on private jets, lease exotic cars — including a 2021 Bentley Bentayga and a Ferrari Portofino — and even $12,000 to cover a student loan payment, the lawsuit alleges.

Additionally, Holmes purchased high-dollar luxury items for himself and Witt, including two Birken handbags valued at nearly $128,000, Chanel and Louis Vuitton handbags valued at more than $14,000, a $127,000 Riviera diamond necklace, a $35,000 Audemars Piguet diamond watch, and 20 VIP passes for the 2023 Coachella Music and Arts Festival valued at more than $53,000, according to the suit.

https://www.ocregister.com/2024/03/26/embattled-la-developer-accuses-its-financial-chief-of-looting-40-million-intended-for-homeless-housing/

[niyad]

1. May he, and his enablers, receive everything they deserve.

[TexasBushwhacker]

3. Enablers indeed

He's just the CFO. Who is the CEO and other officers?

[harumph]

5. He needs to get everything as you say.., get it hard and get it now.

At least that's my "intention."

[Marthe48]

2. I wonder if he could complain about seeing homeless on the street

and keep a straight face as he stole their chance of a place to live?

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

4. driving by too fast in his Ferrari to see the homeless

[bahboo]

6. some well earned prison time...

should wipe that smug look off the fucker's face....