The former president of the Golden Gate Business Association pleaded guilty in federal court December 11 as part of a plea deal on two charges stemming from the alleged embezzlement of over $1 million from law firms he worked for. He faces a likely sentence of three to four years in prison.
As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, Tony Archuleta-Perkins, a gay man, had been the president of the Golden Gate Business Association from 2022 to when he was arrested over the summer following an indictment by a federal grand jury.
The GGBA, which was founded in 1974, is the San Francisco Bay Area's LGBTQ chamber of commerce. The association, which Archuleta-Perkins has been with in a volunteer position since 2018 (when he was treasurer for four years before his time as president, according to his LinkedIn profile), was not mentioned in the indictment.
Shortly after the arrest, the GGBA's board told the B.A.R. there'd be a full audit and investigation of GGBA's finances "out of prudence and caution." The audit, to be conducted by an outside third party, was expected to take several months, according to a July statement.
On December 10 in advance of Archuleta-Perkins' hearing at the Phillip Burton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in downtown San Francisco, the B.A.R. asked the GGBA board via email if it had conducted an investigation. Acting GGBA President Nancy Geenen stated to the B.A.R. that. "We don't have any comment today on any of the issues you mentioned" and recommended reaching out again the following day.
"We do not believe that the finances of the GGBA were implicated in any way," Geenen stated in response to that inquiry. "Our internal investigation will be completed by the end of the year. When complete the board will communicate the results first to our members." Though the events that transpired in court December 11 were stated in the email upon her request, Geenen declined to comment on that matter, stating, "We have not seen the plea agreement so we have no comment."
At the hearing, in the courtroom of Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, Archuleta-Perkins, 48, pleaded guilty to two counts of the indictment — count one, bank fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of up to 30 years imprisonment; and count 11, commonly known as money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment. He will likely serve much less time as part of his plea agreement.
Corley said Archuleta-Perkins will have to pay restitution of $1,321,752.72 — the amount he said he had stolen. Corley said that the recommended sentence will be somewhere between 37 and 46 months but that she has ultimate discretion at the hearing, which will be March 26.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nikhil Bhagat explained that Archuleta-Perkins ran a nonprofit entitled Murrieta Valley High School 1994, or MVHS 1994, which he started in 2013.
From 2017-2023, he worked for two law firms in various roles, eventually becoming the chief financial officer of the Veen Firm, named as "law firm b" at the hearing. (The other firm was not named.)
During that time, prosecutors say he used the access he had as an employee to falsely endorse checks made out to the firms — including an IRS refund — and deposit them into the MVHS account, which he used for his personal purposes. One $41,663.69 IRS refund was deposited into the MVHS account before he wrote a check to himself in the same amount.
Prosecutors say Archuleta-Perkins used the stolen money for the purchase, renovation, and improvement of at least three California properties, as well as for Best Buy and Home Depot credit line payments.
One of the firm's principals was frequently absent due to health issues, and Archuleta-Perkins took advantage of that for his surreptitious financial dealings, Bhagat said.
Archuleta-Perkins is out of custody on bond. His attorney is Ken White of Brown White and Osborn LLP.
"We look forward to getting the judge a full picture of his whole life. ... We believe the judge will do the right thing," White told the B.A.R. after the hearing.
Full disclosure: The B.A.R. is a member of GGBA.
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