Bill Essayli, the newly appointed U.S. attorney for Los Angeles and surrounding areas, on Tuesday announced the formation of a criminal task force to investigate potential fraud and corruption involving local homelessness funds, saying there will be arrests if federal laws have been broken.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in L.A. took particular aim at Los Angeles County in a news release announcing the task force, citing millions of dollars in federal funds that have been allocated to address homelessness and a recent court-ordered audit that found major flaws in homeless services.

“Taxpayers deserve answers for where and how their hard-earned money has been spent. If state and local officials cannot provide proper oversight and accountability, we will do it for them,” Essayli said in his announcement.

The Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force will “investigate crimes related to the misappropriation of federal tax dollars intended to alleviate homelessness” in the Central District of California, which covers an estimated 20 million people across seven counties.

Along with reviewing federal, state and local programs that receive federal grants and funding, the task force “will also investigate fraud schemes involving the theft of private donations intended to provide support and services for the homeless population,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Unhoused individuals tend to their tents in Skid Row last month. A court-ordered audit has revealed a deep lack of financial oversight in Los Angeles’ homelessness spending.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

According to the last year’s figures, L.A. County has a homeless population of more than 75,000, of which more than 45,000 are within the city limits of L.A. Among the remaining six counties in the district, the homeless population exceeds 20,000, according to Essayli’s office.

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she welcomed the creation of the task force, calling accountability in homelessness spending “long overdue.”

“This action aligns with steps the County just took following a scathing audit of LAHSA contracts, and it sends a clear message: public funds meant to serve our most vulnerable must be managed with transparency and integrity,” Barger said. “I believe this task force will add a much-needed layer of oversight that will help restore public trust and ensure resources actually reach those in need.”

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she welcomed the task force.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

The task force will be made up of federal prosecutors from Major Frauds, Public Corruption and Civil Rights and the Civil Division’s Civil Fraud sections, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. The FBI, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General and the IRS Criminal Investigation department will also assist.

Essayli’s announcement comes one week after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to pull more than $300 million out of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a city-county agency that oversees contracts for an array of homeless services.

The supervisors took that step following two scathing audits which identified lax accounting procedures and poor financial oversight at the homeless authority, also known as LAHSA. One of those reports, commissioned by U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter, concluded that weak oversight had created the potential for fraud and waste.

Carter, at a recent hearing, said LAHSA had been offering “meaningless” promises to improve its operations.

“If they were going to do it, they should have done it, or they should have given you a road map now of … how they’re going to do it,” he said.

The city of Los Angeles, which provides 35% of LAHSA’s funds, has been exploring its own pullout from that agency.

On Friday, Va Lecia Adams Kellum announced she was stepping down as the top executive at LAHSA, citing the county’s decision to pull funding — and potentially hundreds of employees — out of her agency.

In recent weeks, Adams Kellum has attempted to defend her agency’s work, pointing out that it reported a 5% reduction in street homelessness in the county and a drop of more than 10% in the city last year.

Adams Kellum said her agency expects to report another reduction next year. Despite those assurances, she and her agency have been the subject of lacerating critiques from Carter, the federal judge.