Ruby Corado is now scheduled to be sentences on Sept. 17. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Records from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia show that a federal judge on July 31 postponed the sentencing of Ruby Corado, the founder and former executive director of the now closed D.C. LGBTQ community services organization Casa Ruby for a charge of wire fraud from Aug. 29 to Sept. 17.
The action by Judge Trevor N. McFadden marks the fifth time Corado’s sentencing has been postponed since she pleaded guilty on July 17, 2024, to a single charge of wire fraud as part of a plea bargain deal offered by prosecutors.
The charge to which she pleaded guilty is based on allegations that she diverted at least $150,000 “in taxpayer backed emergency COVID relief funds to private offshore bank accounts for her personal use,” according to a statement released by prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C.
Court records show that all but one of the earlier sentencing postponements came at the request of Corado’s defense attorneys, for various reasons to which prosecutors did not object. A spokesperson for Judge McFadden said the latest postponement was caused by a scheduling conflict with the judge, who has an unrelated trial scheduled for the same day that Corado’s sentencing had been scheduled.
The records show that the two Federal Public Defender Service attorneys representing Corado requested in a June 6 motion filed in court that they had a conflicting criminal case at the time of the Corado sentencing scheduled for July 29. Without objection from prosecutors, they requested a postponement until Aug. 29, and the judge agreed.
The postponement of the sentencing scheduled for April 29, which was rescheduled for July 29, was approved by the judge after defense attorneys filed another motion saying the postponement was needed on grounds that “Ms. Corado has significant medical issues” and needed time to recover from a medical appointment “related to one of her diagnoses.”
The motion gave no further details on Corado’s medical issues.
Court records show an earlier postponement of the sentencing, from March 28 to April 29, was initiated by the judge due to a scheduling conflict. The first postponement from Jan. 10 to March 28 came at the request of Corado’s attorneys.
The records show that FBI agents arrested Corado on March 5, 2024, at a hotel in Laurel, Md., shortly after she returned to the U.S. from El Salvador, where she moved in 2022. Prosecutors have said in charging documents that she allegedly “fled” to El Salvador after “financial irregularities at Casa Ruby became public” and the LGBTQ organization ceased operating.
Shortly after her arrest another judge agreed to release Corado into the custody of her niece in Rockville, Md., under a home detention order until the time of her trial. As part of the plea agreement with prosecutors, additional charges filed against her at the time of her arrest, including bank fraud, laundering monetary instruments, monetary transactions in criminally delivered proceeds, and failure to file a report of foreign bank accounts, were dropped at the time she pleaded guilty.
Under the federal wire fraud law Corado could be sentenced to a possible maximum time of 30 years in prison. But court observers have said due to her decision to waive her right to a trial and plead guilty, prosecutors will likely ask the judge to hand down a lesser sentence.
The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
