WASHINGTON — Eleven leaders of the nation’s largest homeless shelters spent more than $4.1 million over the past decade, socking away millions of dollars they then paid themselves for their work, according to newly obtained financial records.
Two of the executives at Philadelphia’s homeless shelters, each making millions each year, appeared to split their compensation in a scattershot fashion, making payments to a frequent gambler, to an investment firm specializing in distressed real estate, and to a medical marijuana supplier, tax records show.
Not a single executive of a major U.S. shelter organization that agreed to be audited by the Internal Revenue Service over the past decade signed their names to the benefit reports, a part of the forms that provide descriptions of the amounts for all employees.
Many of the directors of the nonprofits in question also were paid more than $300,000 last year.
In some cases, spending on office equipment, telephones and other office overhead was listed as a payroll expense for their directors, whose salaries themselves usually range from $200,000 to $300,000, tax records show.
There is no evidence that any of the directors of the shelters where millions of dollars were spent were involved in the misappropriation of funds.