A federal court sentenced a major Democratic fundraiser, donor and former nonprofit executive to prison for using money from his taxpayer-funded nonprofit to indulge his luxurious lifestyle, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday night.
Dixon Slingerland led the Youth Policy Institute (YPI), a federally-funded nonprofit aimed at reducing poverty in Los Angeles, from 1996 to 2019 and served as a fundraiser for former President Barack Obama and the former Democratic mayor of Los Angeles. Slingerland used his organization’s resources to cover his property taxes, to pay for a $6,000 dinner in New York City, to hire an $11,000 private tutor for a family tutor and to buy nearly $2,000 worth of computer software and hardware, according to the DOJ.
Slingerland was sentenced to six months in prison, ordered to pay $750,470 in fines and given 200 hours of community service.
The DOJ says Slingerland in total misappropriated $600,000 in grant funding. The bulk of the grant funding YPI received came from the federal government, according to Slingerland’s plea agreement.
YPI received tens of millions of dollars from the federal government between 2006 and 2019, according to a government spending database.
Much of the federal grant money Slingerland’s nonprofit received was disbursed to it during the Obama administration, a president who Slingerland was a major fundraiser for.
The New York Times included Slingerland on a list it compiled of Obama’s largest fundraisers. He raised $743,713 for Obama between 2007 and 2012, according to the NYT.
Slingerland made multiple trips to the White House when Obama was in office, the Los Angeles Times reported
He was also heavily involved in political fundraising in Democrat-dominated Los Angeles. Slingerland co-hosted at least six fundraising events in the city for former Democratic mayor Eric Garcetti, the Los Angeles Times reported.
He also donated tens of thousands of dollars to Los Angeles city officials who oversaw his organization’s programs, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Slingerland donated a significant amount of his own money to Democratic causes. He gave more than $100,000 to Democratic candidates and committees between 2006 and 2020, according to a Federal Election Commission database.
As president of the YPI, Slingerland was the personal guarantor of the organization’s credit card and had authority to sign checks using the organization’s funds, according to the DOJ. He paid himself a salary of nearly $400,000 as the head of YPI, according to tax documents.
The DOJ told the Daily Caller News Foundation that had no further comment.
Robert Schmad on December 13, 2023
