Alternatives Living, Inc.
Outcome
Rickey Roberson, CFO of Alternatives Living, Inc. — a New Orleans nonprofit providing HUD-funded housing to elderly, homeless, and mentally disabled individuals — pleaded guilty in September 2017 to theft of federal grant funds and agreed to pay more than $84,000 in restitution for diverting HUD funds to personal expenses including his children's school tuition and cell phone bills, personal travel, concert and sports tickets, and medical bills for his family dog.
Details
Alternatives Living, Inc. (New Orleans) — CFO HUD Grant Theft (2012–2016)
Outcome: Rickey Roberson, CFO of Alternatives Living, Inc., a New Orleans area nonprofit that received HUD funding to provide affordable housing to elderly, homeless families, and mentally disabled individuals, pleaded guilty in September 2017 to theft of federal grant funds and agreed to pay more than $84,000 in restitution for diverting HUD housing funds to personal expenses.
Alternatives Living received HUD funds specifically designated to provide housing assistance to vulnerable populations. As CFO, Roberson had signature authority on the organization's bank accounts and credit cards. He exploited this access to divert HUD-funded money to personal expenses including: his children's cell phone bills and school tuition; personal travel; satellite radio; concert and sports tickets; cruise expenses; repairs to his luxury automobiles; and medical bills for the family dog.
Roberson was indicted in June 2016 and pleaded guilty in September 2017. Following the audit findings, Alternatives Living lost its HUD funding and subsequently its Medicaid funding as well — effectively shutting down an organization that served vulnerable New Orleans residents.
Primary Source: Theft of Federal Housing Funds
How Crucible Prevents This
Roberson had signature authority on Alternatives Living bank accounts as CFO — the same dual-authority failure seen across many nonprofit fraud cases. Crucible's CFO expense authorization control requires that any expense approved by the CFO be reviewed by the executive director or board treasurer, and vice versa, eliminating single-person authorization over organizational accounts. A personal benefit detection hook flags charges in categories inconsistent with organizational purposes (children's school tuition, family pet medical bills, personal entertainment) appearing on any organizational payment account.
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