Ex-CEO faces new embezzling allegations
The former president and chief executive officer of Goodwill Industries of Sacramento Valley Northern Nevada accused of diverting $1.4 million from the charity now faces additional federal charges alleging he embezzled money from two other nonprofit organizations in California.
On Thursday, a federal grand jury returned a 16-count superseding indictment against Richard Alan Abrusci, 45, of South Lake Tahoe, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento announced Friday in a news release.
The superseding indictment charges Abrusci with 12 counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and three counts of monetary transactions with proceeds of specified unlawful activity.
The indictment does not name Goodwill or the two other nonprofits each listed as a “victim” in the alleged embezzlement scheme.
The initial indictment in December alleged that Abrusci embezzled $1.4 million “from a non-profit organization that operates a chain of retail stores in California and Nevada,” federal prosecutors said in the news release.
Abrusci's LinkedIn page listed him as the Goodwill president and CEO from June 2018 to July 2021, and the indictment says that “Non-Profit 1 fired Abrusci in July 2021.” Goodwill
spokesman Sam Singer told The Sacramento Bee last year that the nonprofit discovered Abrusci's alleged actions through a routine audit, and Goodwill had been working with law enforcement since then.
The superseding indictment adds charges for the two other nonprofits.
Prosecutors said Abrusci in summer 2022 became “president of the Sacramento chapter of a national non-profit organization that pairs children with adult mentors.” The indictment alleges that Abrusci — from October through December of that year — embezzled nearly $50,000 from this nonprofit. At that time, Abrusci was listed as chief executive officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater
Sacramento Area.
In fall 2022, Abrusci was the chairperson of the board of directors of an organization “that acts as an umbrella organization for non-profits across California that connect community members with public services,” prosecutors said. The indictment alleges that Abrusci embezzled about $100,000 from this nonprofit from December 2022 to January 2023.
At that time, Abrusci was identified as board chair of California 211, also known as 211 California. The organization, run by the United Way, represents and supports 211 provider organizations across California which offer community and social service referrals, care coordination, case management and connection to vulnerable and difficult to reach populations.
Representatives from Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Sacramento Area and United Ways of California did not respond to The Bee's requests for comment Friday afternoon.
The U.S. Attorney's Office alleges that Abrusci embezzled funds from the three nonprofits in essentially the same manner: He directed the nonprofits to pay Resolution Arrangement Services for a variety of services it purportedly performed.
“In fact, RAS provided none of these services,” prosecutors said in the news release. “Instead, RAS consisted of nothing more than a fictitious business name that Abrusci registered in 2008 and a bank account he opened the same year.”
Payments from the nonprofits to RAS went into this bank account, which Abrusci controlled, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors said Abrusci, if convicted, would face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the 12 counts of wire fraud; 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each of the three counts of monetary transactions with proceeds of specified unlawful activity; and a consecutive two years in prison for the count of aggravated identity theft.
Abrusci's case is scheduled to resume Thursday.