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The California Attorney General has sued a major Long Beach food bank, alleging leaders at the nonprofit misappropriated more than $10 million in state and federal funds to finance personal purchases, prop up businesses they owned, or enrich their friends and family members.
The 164-page lawsuit filed March 25, is the latest twist in the saga of the Foodbank of Southern California, which was raided in late September by CHP officers. Nearly simultaneously, California’s Department of Social Services terminated the nonprofit’s contract to distribute state aid — shutting down most of its operations.
Before that crackdown, misconduct at the food bank was allowed to fester for years, according to the lawsuit.
“For at least the last decade, the Foodbank’s officers, directors and vendors worked together to divert millions of dollars of state and federal funds away from these most vulnerable communities, into their own pockets,” the state Attorney General’s office wrote in court papers.
Most of the food bank’s recent leadership couldn’t be reached for comment. Its two current board members said they have been trying to work with the state to correct problems that existed from before they joined.
The Foodbank of Southern California had long been a crucial link in the social support network for some of Los Angeles County’s poorest residents. Established in 1975, it provided an average of 40 million pounds of food annually to over 850,000 food-insecure children, adults and seniors, according to its website.
A large portion of that work was funded by tens of millions of dollars from a federal food assistance program along with smaller grants and donations.
The state’s lawsuit paints a picture of lacking or nonexistent controls over how that money was spent.
For instance, it says, several companies owned by former board treasurer Giuseppe Briguglio were paid more than $5 million over eight years for several contracts that “either did not provide the goods or services, or provided unusable goods, to the Foodbank.”
Allegations also include several board members funneling state money to churches or nonprofit organizations they were part of or failing to justify how companies were chosen to receive multi-million dollar contracts.
In another case, the lawsuit alleges food bank CEO Jeanne Cooper used more than $230,000 in state and federal funds on personal expenses including “cell phones, smart watches, insurance for non-Foodbank vehicles, home renovations, personal phone lines, area rugs, floor lamps, carpeting, home appliances, gas cards, gift cards, home lawn services, and an artificial Christmas tree.”
Cooper, who was CEO from August 2021 to May 2024, did not respond to multiple requests for comment Monday, but she previously denied wrongdoing and said she had contacted the state with concerns about self-dealing and kickbacks among board members.
The lawsuit makes similar accusations, saying its former board chair, Alice Harris, funneled nearly $173,000 to Parents of Watts, a nonprofit she founded, without board approval.
The Attorney General’s office also accuses her of appointing her son-in-law Egerton Forster to the board and unilaterally naming him Interim CEO after former CEO John Knapp died in December 2020.
And, the state alleges, between 2020 and 2021, Forster allegedly gifted more than $50,000 of food bank funds to Seek HM1, an organization owned by his wife. Forster is also accused of gifting over $14,000 in Foodbank funds to Watts Willowbrook Church without board approval.
Harris is also accused of using her position on the board to hire her granddaughter as a salaried employee, paid for by federal funds, although she did not provide any services to the Foodbank.
Harris did not respond to multiple requests for comment. She and most other board members named in the lawsuit are no longer listed on the food bank’s website.
Current CEO Brian Weaver said he and Michael Barrett, who both joined the board in 2023, are the only remaining board members.
Weaver said he and Barrett had been proactively trying to correct many of the problems the state outlined by bringing them to the board and the state’s attention two years ago.
The state, however, also accuses them of wrongdoing, saying Weaver used food bank funds to buy a Tesla for personal use and Barrett benefitted financially from the food bank purchasing an ad on a billboard above the Do Right Christian Church, where he is the pastor.
They both denied these accusations. Weaver said the food bank purchased a used Tesla as a replacement vehicle after an employee crashed a previous company car while drunk. Weaver said he attempted to put it under his insurance to avoid raising the rate on the rest of the company’s vehicles.
Barrett said the billboard is actually next to his church’s property and he did not benefit from the transaction.
Weaver and Barrett said the state should have investigated earlier, alleging officials hadn’t properly audited the food bank for years.
Weaver said there was no need for the CHP raid at the foodbank’s Washington Neighborhood warehouse that grabbed headlines in September because he was complying with the state’s investigation and had already hired an outside firm to investigate alleged misuse of funds.
Of the evidence the state has, “a large portion of that came from our [internal] investigation,” Weaver said.
Citing the pending litigation, the State Department of Social Services, which oversaw the food bank’s contract, declined to comment on the case.
The lawsuit is seeking reimbursement for $10.4 million in allegedly misspent funds.
Investigators said they arrived at that figure by looking at expenditures dating back to July 1, 2017. They noted that the review was “hampered by a lack of access” to the food bank’s business records.
As a result, the $10.4 million figure was “likely to be significantly understated and may increase” as more information is discovered.