Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today announced that the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) won a $1.225 million judgment against Kenneth Brewer, Sr., the former executive director of the nonprofit H Street Community Development Corporation (HSCDC), for violating DC law and his duty as a nonprofit officer by misusing nonprofit funds. OAG sued Brewer in 2025, alleging that for years he secretly diverted HSCDC funds to pay himself increasingly larger annual bonuses.

"Particularly at a time when District residents are facing serious financial challenges, my office will not allow nonprofit executives to exploit their positions of power to line their own pockets with charitable funds," said Attorney General Schwalb. "Through this judgment, $1.225 million in misappropriated funds will go towards affordable housing and local business development as donors originally intended."

HSCDC is a nonprofit focused on preserving, managing, and expanding affordable housing and increasing economic opportunity for DC residents, particularly along the H Street corridor. Brewer served as executive director of both HSCDC and its for-profit subsidiary, the H Street Investment Corporation (HSIC), from July 2010 until June 2023. In March 2024, HSCDC sued Brewer for abusing his position of authority and misappropriating nonprofit funds.

After independently investigating the allegations against Brewer, OAG intervened and filed its own complaint in 2025. OAG's lawsuit alleged that between 2017 and 2023, Brewer diverted over $1.2 million in HSCDC funds for increasingly larger annual bonuses for himself that were never approved by the organization. The suit detailed how Brewer circumvented the HSCDC board and improperly transferred HSCDC funds to HSIC to fund bonuses ranging from $150,000 to $350,000 per year. OAG alleged that Brewer illegally funded his bonuses in part by the sale of HSCDC-owned properties, and that he had violated his legal duty to act in the best interest of the organization by taking large, unauthorized bonuses and leaving the organization facing financial difficulties.

On April 30, 2026, the Court granted summary judgment in favor of the District and against Brewer. The Court found that Brewer had in fact improperly diverted charitable funds and violated his legal obligations to HSCDC, and ordered him to pay HSCDC back the full $1,225,000 in unauthorized bonuses he received. The Court created a constructive trust over Brewer's assets, which HSCDC can use to collect what it is owed in misappropriated funds.

In its order, the Court wrote that there was no way that the extremely large unauthorized bonuses Brewer received could "be said to further the purpose of the HSCDC to directly 'facilitate and perpetuate the revitalization of the H Street Corridor and its surrounds.'"

The summary judgment order is available here.

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorneys General Martine Wilson and Cara Spencer; Paralegal Hannah Hernandez, and Adam Gitlin, Chief of the Antitrust and Nonprofit Enforcement Section.

About the District's Nonprofit Corporation Act
Under the District's Nonprofit Corporation Act (NCA), the Attorney General has the authority to police nonprofit activities and ensure that nonprofit entities operating in DC spend their funds to serve their stated missions. Nonprofit organizations are set up to benefit the public, and nonprofit funds cannot be spent to benefit a private individual or company-especially an individual who has influence over the organization.

OAG's Nonprofit Enforcement Work
Since becoming an independently elected Attorney General's office, OAG has steadily expanded its capacity to enforce District laws governing nonprofits. Recently, OAG sued the Executive Director of a police accountability nonprofit and the former Treasurer of an elementary school's parent-teacher organization for misusing nonprofit funds. OAG also secured a revised deal to sell the Providence Hospital campus for residential redevelopment that protected $5 million in healthcare resources for the District and ensured that the proceeds of the sale of property owned by an affordable-housing nonprofit would still be used to provide affordable housing in the District. OAG also resolved actions against a lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police for running an illegal off-premises liquor sales program, the Coast Guard Auxiliary Association for improper payments to its Board President, and Delta Phi Epsilon, Inc. for using nonprofit funds for personal gain.

If you suspect that a nonprofit or officer of a nonprofit doing business in the District of Columbia is violating District law, please contact OAG at (202) 727-3400.

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