California’s latest scandal is the kind of story that makes you wonder if the term “nonprofit” even means anything anymore. In a state already drowning in homelessness and fraud, the leaders of a well-known Southern California food bank now stand accused of treating state funds like their personal piggy bank — blowing millions in public money meant for the hungry on luxury living.

According to a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Social Services, the Foodbank of Southern California’s top brass, including former CEO Jeanne Cooper and her spouse Lamarr Ramsey, allegedly siphoned off over $11 million in taxpayer funds. The accusations paint a picture of a nonprofit that had little to do with feeding the poor — and a lot to do with feeding personal greed.

We’re not just talking about minor accounting discrepancies. State officials say Cooper and her allies spent thousands on Vegas trips, home makeovers, Christmas decorations, cell phones, smart watches, and even gifted vehicles. The food bank reportedly acted less like a charitable organization and more like a slush fund for a small group of insiders.

State investigators say the fraud went on for years, with public money being redirected into shady personal expenses. Among the bombshells in the lawsuit:

• $228,000 spent at Best Buy, Lowe’s, Office Depot, and AT&T using corporate cards.
• Nearly $7,000 paid to Cooper’s husband for “repairs” that never happened.
• A $10,000 box truck gifted to Ramsey.
• Thousands funneled to relatives under vague “transportation” or “decorating” justifications.

The rot didn’t stop with the executive suite. At least ten current or former board members — and their family members — are named in the suit. One of the most surprising is community activist “Sweet Alice” Harris, celebrated for her work with the Parents of Watts. Despite her charitable reputation, she’s accused of diverting hundreds of thousands from the food bank into her own nonprofit and hiring her relatives along the way.

The irony? While all this was happening, California’s homeless crisis spiraled out of control. Over 187,000 people are sleeping on the streets each night in the state. Billions have been thrown at the problem, but little progress has been made — and now we know part of the reason why. If these allegations are true, funds that should have been helping the needy were instead financing fake repairs, junkets, and decorations.

And this case is hardly an outlier. Many have long argued that the state’s homelessness industry has become a self-serving racket — a “homeless-industrial complex” that profits off never fixing the crisis it claims to solve. What’s unfolding in Long Beach may be one of the clearest examples of that theory yet.

While Governor Gavin Newsom and state Democrats love to throw around words like “compassion,” what we’re seeing here is the natural result of an unaccountable, bloated bureaucracy. No oversight. No audits. No shame. Just a revolving door of taxpayer dollars flowing into the pockets of the politically connected and morally bankrupt.

If the DOJ and the Department of Government Efficiency are serious about draining the swamp — they’d better look west. The corruption isn’t just in D.C. It’s alive and well in California, and it’s bleeding hardworking Americans dry while failing the very people it claims to help.