Jacob Rostovsky, the founder and CEO of Queer Works, has been indicted on 53 felony counts for allegedly stealing nearly $1 million in tax-payer money through the LGBTQ+ non-profit.
Rostovsky, who has been “openly transgender” since age 13 and is now a self-described “transgender man,” founded Queer Works in 2018 as a non-profit organization in California. On its website, Queer Works claims to focus on mental-health support for the “transgender and gender non-binary” community by providing mental-health services, free therapy, and workshops. Queer Works also claims to provide “gender affirming letters” that were “crafted by licensed therapists” after meeting with a client for just one to two sessions; a patient can present those letters to doctors and insurance companies as evidence that gender-related medical treatments are medically necessary.
The District Attorney of the County of Riverside in California announced last week that Rostovksy was indicted on charges that include fraudulent claims, grand theft, misappropriation of public funds, insurance fraud, perjury, and money laundering.
According to the District Attorney’s statement, an investigation found 89 separate instances in which Rostovsky made false statements and submitted forged documents to the County of Riverside and the City of Palm Springs to obtain over $840,000 intended for the non-profit’s activities. Rostovsky used a portion of those funds for personal expenses, including purchases at Disney, Burberry, and the Beverly Garland Hotel.
In 2021, Queer Works received grant funding from Riverside County in California for programs to assist homeless individuals and victims of domestic violence. In 2022, the City of Palm Springs provided Queer Works with $200,000 to develop a universal-basic-income pilot program. Later in 2022, the Palm Springs City Council approved a request for a $500,000 for a universal-basic-income grant for Queer Works that was supposed to provide 180 participants with monthly stipends of $800.
“The City of Palm Springs fully supports the Riverside County District Attorney’s efforts in investigating and indicting [Rostovsky] for allegedly defrauding the taxpayers of our city, our county and state out of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” city spokesperson Amy Blaisdell said in a statement.
The District Attorney’s statement further alleged that Rostovsky used an alias and impersonated a Queer Works client to file a fraudulent insurance claim, which resulted in Rostovsky personally receiving $90,000 from the non-profit’s insurance carrier. Additionally, Rostovky stands accused of multiple acts of money laundering.
Rostovsky surrendered at the District Attorney’s Office in Riverside, California on October 17 and posted bail in the amount of $944,000.
“I am calling on the Riverside County Civil Grand Jury to investigate any potential government malfeasance or misconduct that may have occurred in the administration of these contracts,” said District Attorney Mike Hestrin. “It is simply unacceptable that public funds are handed out with the lack of due diligence or oversight that is alleged in this case. The people of Riverside County deserve better from their public officials who have a duty to act as responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
According to the Desert Sun, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) approved a grant to award $500,000 to Queer Works for gender-related medical treatments in 2023. The CDPH began awarding payments in February, 2024, but stopped doing so in late June. In total, the CDPH gave $153,864.14 to Queer Works. However, the indictment does not allege misuse of those funds.
“Upon learning in July 2024 of the local investigation into Queer Works’ use of public funding, CDPH staff reached out to the organization and was notified it wished to terminate its grant agreement with CDPH as of July 1, 2024. No additional funds were issued,” the CDPH Office of Communications said in a statement to the Desert Sun. “While an initial analysis of progress reports provided to CDPH by Queer Works revealed no inconsistencies in their expenditures related to their grant agreement with CDPH, the Department is in the process of determining whether additional actions are required.”