Ronald Moten, co-founder and former Chief Operating Officer of Peaceoholics, Inc., can continue pursuing his passions with legal woes now behind him. The Office of the Attorney General has settled with Moten in a case that had alleged his anti-gang organization violated the False Claims Act and misused District grant funds.
Under the settlement, Moten is prevented from managing or disbursing the funds of a D.C. nonprofit in the future. He’s also liable for $10,000. However, he can still use his experience to work with youth.
“Mr. Moten has been a great asset in empowering our community’s youth, and should be able to utilize those skills, especially at a time when our city’s young people could use his talents,” Attorney General Karl Racine said in a release. “We believe we have put sufficient mechanisms in place to ensure what happened at Peaceoholics does not happen again. It’s time for Mr. Moten to be cleared to do what he does best: mentor, guide, advocate and inspire our youth.”
Peaceholics was established in 2004, as an organization that promoted conflict resolution within gangs and neighborhoods. When someone was shot in D.C., Moten was known to have heard about it first, often racing to the scene. In 2012, he ran for a spot on the D.C. Council, but failed to unseat Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander.
Earlier that year, a report revealed that the organization defaulted on loans from developers and lost control of three buildings in low-income neighborhoods it had intended to retrofit into housing for at-risk families.
And two years later, the D.C. Superior Court entered a default judgment against Peaceoholics and its other co-founder and CEO Jauhar Abraham, claiming that he improperly used funds that were supposed to support youth anti-violence programming. The judgment held Abraham liable for $638,989. Among other things, the court said that Abraham allegedly used the money to buy himself luxury SUVs.
At the time, the Office of the Attorney General did not allege that Moten benefited personally from the grant funding.
