Casinos, vacations, altered records. Ex-Fresno Arts Council manager admits to $1.8M theft
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- Former Fresno Arts Council manager admitted to embezzling $1.8 million.
- Unauthorized transfers from 2022 to Feb 2026 funneled funds to PayPal, bank.
- Guilty plea set for April 20; sentencing scheduled roughly four months later.
In a deal with federal prosecutors, the former operations manager for the Fresno Arts Council has admitted to embezzling $1.8 million from the nonprofit.
Suliana Caldwell will plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and pay restitution of no more than $1.8 million.
Caldwell had been under suspicion of taking the money from the multi-million-dollar “Expanded Access to Arts and Culture” grant program funded by Measure P.
The City of Fresno hired the Fresno Arts Council to administer the grant program that city officials are now running.
In court documents filed Wednesday, Caldwell told prosecutors that starting in June 2022 she began making unauthorized transfers from the Fresno Arts Council bank accounts to her own personal PayPal and to her bank account.
“The unauthorized transfers significantly increased in 2023 when FAC received millions of dollars in Measure P funds and continued through until February 2026,” according to the plea deal.
“In total, Caldwell took more than $1,800,000 from the FAC and used the money to gamble at local casinos, pay for vacations and for other improper personal expenses for herself,” according to court documents.
In one day in July 2024, Caldwell took approximately $58,000 from the FAC bank accounts.
To hide her fraud scheme, prosecutors said Caldwell abused the trust and discretion that she was given as the FAC’s operations manager and made misrepresentations on the financial reports she submitted to the FAC’s executive director and board members, the City and County of Fresno and others.
Caldwell admitted to altering and misreporting the financial figures in the reports to make it seem as though no unauthorized transfers were happening.
Caldwell met with the Fresno Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation on March 26 and confessed to her crimes.
Her attorney Kevin Rooney said Caldwell was suffering from a series of personal problems that led to gambling and then embezzling.
“She was in a downward spiral,” he said. “This has been an extremely challenging time for her and her family. But she went in and told them what happened.”
Caldwell will enter her guilty plea on April 20 before U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston.
Sentencing will take place about four months later.
Rooney said it is unlikely Caldwell will receive the maximum sentence, but her punishment will include some time in custody.
This story was originally published April 9, 2026 at 3:05 PM.
