LOS ANGELES
The former president and CEO of a Hollywood-based anti-poverty nonprofit agency agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges for embezzling money from the nonprofit, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
He used the money for his benefit and intentionally misapplied more than $600,000 in grant money to pay for unauthorized expenses and lying on his tax returns, officials stated.
Howard Dixon Slingerland, 53, of Studio City, agreed to plead guilty to a two-count information charging him with conversion and intentional misapplication of funds from an organization receiving federal money and submitting a false federal income tax return.
According to his plea agreement, from 1996 until he was fired in September 2019, Slingerland was the president and CEO of Youth Policy Institute Inc. (YPI), a Hollywood-based nonprofit agency
The agency worked to eradicate poverty in some of the highest-needs neighborhoods in Los Angeles, officials stated. It used a comprehensive approach addressing education, youth development, safety, job training, and health and wellness.
(2015 — Highlights from Dixon Slingerland’s presentation at the USC Sol Price Center for Social Innovation)
In these roles, Slingerland had check-signing authority over YPI’s bank accounts and was the personal guarantor of YPI’s credit card.
From January 2015 to February 2019, Slingerland caused at least $71,533 of YPI funds to be spent on unauthorized expenditures, including Slingerland’s personal property tax bill that exceeded $14,000, more than $6,000 for a family dinner at a New York City restaurant, nearly $11,000 for a family member’s tutoring, and nearly $2,000 on a home computer and software.
In July 2019, Slingerland caused about $401,561 in funds YPI had received from a federal grant.
That same month, he also caused approximately $201,466 in federal grant money to be illegally used to pay off YPI’s credit card bill, including for expenses Slingerland had incurred.
Slingerland further admitted in his plea agreement that he underreported on his federal income tax returns more than $100,000 in income each year for the tax years 2015 through 2018 by not reporting money he obtained from YPI, including through the embezzlement.
Slingerland admitted to owing the U.S. Treasury a total of approximately $147,398 in unpaid taxes – not including penalties and interest – for these years.
Slingerland is facing up to 10 years in federal prison on the conversion count and three years in federal prison on the tax count.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ranee A. Katzenstein, Chief of the Major Frauds Section, is prosecuting this case.