Nat’l Asian American Coalition sues founder for fraud, reports to CA attorney general
LOS ANGELES – A lawsuit filed by the National Asian American Coalition (NAAC) against its founder and former CEO, Faith Bautista, details how a once-celebrated community champion led a fraudulent conspiracy to enrich herself at the expense of the State of California.
According to the complaint, however, the number of counseling sessions Bautista and her team submitted were “absurdly impossible.” For example, despite the fact that a counseling session generally took at least one hour, defendants’ records claim that one counselor conducted 35 counseling sessions in a day, the complaint noted. Another counselor is credited with 45 counseling sessions in a day, it alleged.
According to the lawsuit, “The defendants’ actions grossly violated their strict fiduciary duties owed to NAAC, and at a more basic level, violated the trust of the Asian American and other marginalized communities they were supposed to be serving. These communities needed and expected the long-delayed funds from the National Mortgage Settlement program to directly benefit their communities. Instead, substantial portions of the funds were spent to fuel defendants’ egos and quench their thirst for money.”
The lawsuit continues: “In embarking on this shameless conspiracy to defraud NAAC and the State of California, defendants profited handsomely at the expense of NAAC and ultimately at the expense of California’s taxpayers. To protect the charity from further harm, NAAC now takes the unfortunate but necessary step of suing its own founder and her co-conspirators to force them to return every penny they selfishly siphoned from this charitable organization and to help NAAC resolve its repayment obligation to the State of California.”
The NAAC Board was compelled to file the lawsuit by the findings of a more than eight-month investigation conducted by one of the nation’s leading global law firms, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP. The investigation uncovered substantial evidence of fraud and other wrongdoing, according to the statement.
The investigation was launched after NAAC’s independent outside auditor notified the Board of numerous red flags relating to Faith Bautista’s conduct.