The Former Head of a Homeless Shelter Agrees to a $6 Million Settlement
The former head of a publicly funded nonprofit that runs homeless shelters in Massachusetts has agreed to pay $6 million to settle allegations that he funneled state money to himself by renting properties he owned to the shelter at inflated rates, the state attorney general’s office announced Thursday.
The consent judgment, entered in Suffolk Superior Court on Wednesday, resolves a lawsuit filed in September against Manuel Duran, the former executive director and CEO of Casa Nueva Vida, which has multiple family shelters in Boston and Lawrence.
Duran signed leases on the organization’s behalf for investment properties he owned, charged substantially above fair rental value, and directed the organization to use funding it received from the state to pay for improvements, the attorney general’s office said.
