Howard Dixon Slingerland, who once helmed the Youth Policy Institute (YPI), was given a six-month sentence in federal prison for brazenly embezzling funds and cheating on his taxes, as follows from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. The 54-year-old from Studio City was also handed six months of home confinement, a $10,000 fine, and a hefty $750,470 in restitution along with 200 hours of community service.
Previously pleading guilty this March to charges of conversion and the intentional misapplication of federal money, plus signing off on a patently false tax return, Slingerland faced punishment in court. While serving as CEO, he managed to set aside a personal stash by misapplying over $600,000 in grant dough meant for the struggling folks of LA's toughest neighborhoods.
Between 2015 and 2019, Slingerland splashed cash meant for the impoverished on a lavish lifestyle, records say. Forged under the guise of business expenses were his property taxes to the tune of over $14,000, a $6,000 family dinner in New York City, nearly $11,000 for private tutoring, and close to $2,000 on a home computer setup. The DOJ recounts these lavish expenditures, detailing the misuse of YPI's money.
In July 2019, Slingerland directed roughly $401,561 of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funds, aimed at helping young adults secure jobs, to cover YPI’s payroll. Another approximate $201,466 of that federal grant money was funneled to settle YPI’s credit card expenses, burrowed under the charges raked up by Slingerland himself.
To top it off, the fallen exec falsified his income tax filings from 2015 through 2018 by over $100,000 annually, dodging taxes to the tune of about $147,398—not to mention the looming penalties and interest, the Justice Department reported. "Entrusted with the management of a large non-profit organization on which many community members had come to depend, [Slingerland] ignored the rules and used the organization’s money to pay for his own personal expenses, some of which were extravagant, even profligate," prosecutors sharply criticized in their sentencing memorandum.
The case brings to a close an investigation that pulled in the IRS Criminal Investigation, the FBI, and several other federal and LA agencies, cited by Public Information Officer Ciaran McEvoy.
