The founder of Casa Ruby, a D.C.-based nonprofit, has been sentenced to 33 months behind bars and ordered to pay almost $1 million to the Small Business Administration.

A judge ordered Ruby Jade Corado, 56, of D.C., to pay $956,215 in restitution after she funneled at least $150,000 in COVID-19 relief funds into her private bank account in El Salvador, according to a Tuesday news release from the Department of Justice.

Corado pleaded guilty in 2024 to charges associated with diverting the relief funds provided to her nonprofit, which provided services to LGBTQ+ youth.

“Corado received more than $1.3 million from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for the non-profit Casa Ruby,” U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said in a news release.

“Instead of using the funds as promised, Corado stole over $950,000, transferred at least $150,000 to bank accounts in El Salvador, and hid it from the IRS.”

According to the DOJ news release, “Casa Ruby had claimed to provide housing services for homeless LGBTQ+ youth including transitional housing. The organization also claimed to assist LGBTQ+ immigrants by providing social services such as case management and therapeutic mental health support for survivors of violence, and to assist with a wide array of services such as assisting with passport applications and certain visa applications.”

The nonprofit “effectively ceased operations in July 2022 when it shuttered its transitional housing, failed to pay its employees, and faced eviction from multiple properties for failure to pay rent.”

Court records show Corado fled to El Salvador in 2022 as financial problems at Casa Ruby became public.

She was arrested by the FBI in 2024 after returning to Laurel, Maryland.