California governor Gavin Newsom’s administration is under active criminal investigation over allegations of money laundering $800 million through NGO’s tied to the Palisades fire.
Federal investigators from the IRS Criminal Investigation division have been actively investigating fraud tied to the fire relief, including emails and donation records from affected victims.
Their focus includes allegations of money laundering through nonprofits
While FireAid organizers claim grants totaling $100 million were given to different ‘recovery groups, Pacific Palisades residents and Altadena families report that they haven’t been given any money or received any help.
Instead, the money went to 100 nonprofit programs, leaving many homeowners to shoulder the cost of rebuilding on their own.
Even though Gov. Newsom’s office says they didn’t play a role in FireAid grants, reports from earlier this year flagged his wildfire donation portal for routing contributions through a Democratic super PAC.
Newsom signed a $2.5 billion state relief package in January and unlocked over $2 billion in federal aid by March, however victims say they haven’t seen any of that money either.
This comes as Newsom’s ex-chief of staff was indicted on $225,000 in campaign fraud charges.
