Ayudando Guardians' founders embezzled $11 million from nearly 1,000 disabled and veteran clients over a decade
Susan Harris and Sharon Moore co-founded Ayudando Alpha, Inc., doing business as Ayudando Guardians, Inc., in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in November 2006. The nonprofit served as representative payee, VA fiduciary, and court-appointed guardian or conservator for close to 1,400 clients, many of them disabled veterans. From November 2006 to July 2017, Harris, her husband William Harris, Moore, and company officer Craig Young used client trust accounts to pay for cruises, luxury vehicles, upscale homes and personal credit card bills, covering depleted client accounts with other clients' money and mailing the Department of Veterans Affairs fabricated statements overstating account balances. A federal grand jury returned a sealed 28-count indictment on July 11, 2017, and the US Marshals Service took control of the company's operations that summer after employees alerted the FBI. Susan and William Harris pleaded guilty, then fled New Mexico in March 2020 rather than appear for sentencing; US Marshals captured them weeks later in Shawnee, Oklahoma, living under assumed names. Moore was sentenced to 240 months; Young to 71 months; and, after their capture, William Harris to 15 years and Susan Harris to 47 years. A 2025 settlement with the company's insurer and asset forfeiture recovered nearly $5 million toward restitution for 969 identified victims.
- Year
- 2021
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $11.0 million
- Victims
- 969
- Schemes
- Professional guardianship and conservatorship fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-25
The facts, as recorded
- Susan Harris and Sharon Moore co-founded Ayudando Alpha, Inc. (d/b/a Ayudando Guardians, Inc.) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in November 2006.
- The company served as representative payee, VA fiduciary, and court-appointed guardian or conservator for close to 1,400 clients, including many disabled veterans, at the time its offices were closed.
- From November 2006 to July 2017, the company's principals embezzled more than $11 million from nearly 1,000 clients.
- Methods included paying over $4 million in personal credit card charges with client funds, writing checks to themselves and to cash (including a $50,950 payment to a Mercedes-Benz dealer and a $26,444 payment to an RV dealer), spending $140,790 in client funds on luxury travel, and covering depleted client accounts with money from other clients.
- Between January and November 2016, the company mailed the Department of Veterans Affairs fabricated account statements claiming ten client accounts held $1,906,908; the real combined balance was $72,281.
- A federal grand jury returned a sealed 28-count indictment on July 11, 2017, charging conspiracy, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering; the US Marshals Service took control of the company's operations and closed its offices that year.
- Employees who noticed irregularities in client accounts reported them to the FBI; an accountant had separately recognized the firm as a 'family ATM' roughly five years earlier but, after signing an agreement with an Ayudando attorney, did not alert authorities.
- Susan and William Harris pleaded guilty and were originally scheduled for sentencing on March 2, 2020, but fled New Mexico instead; US Marshals captured them weeks later in Shawnee, Oklahoma, living under assumed names.
- Sharon Moore, the company's chief financial officer and 5 percent owner, was sentenced to 240 months in prison. Craig Young was sentenced to 71 months. After their capture, William Harris was sentenced to 15 years and Susan Harris, described as the scheme's architect and 95 percent owner, to 47 years.
- The Harrises' insurer, Travelers Casualty and Surety Co., initially denied a claim under the company's required 'Wrap + Crime' policy; the United States sued in 2022, and a 2025 settlement paid $4.9 million toward restitution, alongside $138,767 already recovered through asset forfeiture, for 969 victims identified by the court.
Why this case matters
This is the largest and longest-running scheme documented on this page: nearly 11 years, close to 1,000 victims, and an $11 million total, run by a company that was itself appointed by courts and federal agencies specifically to protect people who could not protect themselves. It shows the fraud at its most organized: a legitimate-looking nonprofit, a documented internal warning that went nowhere for years, and a federal felony case that still took until 2025 to recover even half the money stolen.
A “family ATM” no one reported for years
According to a 2021 prosecutors’ memo cited by the Albuquerque Journal, an accountant working with Ayudando recognized the company as a “family ATM” roughly five years before the fraud was reported to the FBI, but signed an agreement with an Ayudando attorney and did not alert authorities. The scheme was eventually exposed only after other employees noticed irregularities in client accounts and went to the FBI directly, not through any court review of the company’s required filings.
Fleeing didn’t change the sentence, only who was there to hear it
Susan and William Harris pleaded guilty and then fled New Mexico in March 2020 rather than face sentencing, living under assumed names in Shawnee, Oklahoma, with a pet Chihuahua and $400 in cash when US Marshals found them weeks later. Their flight delayed the proceeding; it did not reduce it. Susan Harris’s eventual 47-year sentence is among the longest documented for this kind of fraud on this site.
The caveat
Susan Harris, William Harris, Sharon Moore and Craig Young were all convicted, three by guilty plea and the facts above drawn from the government’s own account of the prosecution, sentencing, and the 2025 restitution settlement, not from an unproven accusation. The $11 million total and the 969-victim count come from the US Attorney’s Office’s own 2025 figures; earlier reporting during the case cited smaller, interim loss estimates as the investigation was still underway.
People named in the public record
- Susan Harris · convicted
Sources
- New Mexico Representative Payee and Guardianship Service Charged with Defrauding Hundreds of Beneficiaries. Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General. Accessed 2026-10-25. Supports: The company's founding, scheme period, indictment details, methods of theft, specific dollar figures, and the fabricated VA statements.
- Feds Close Office Of New Mexico Guardianship Firm. KRWG (NPR affiliate, Las Cruces, New Mexico). Accessed 2026-10-25. Supports: The roughly 1,400 clients served, the US Marshals' takeover and office closure, and Harris's and Moore's not-guilty pleas.
- Ayudando Guardians victims get $4.9 million. Albuquerque Journal. Accessed 2026-10-25. Supports: The over $11 million total theft, the 969 identified victims, the $6.8 million money judgment, the $4.9 million insurance settlement and forfeiture recovery, the accountant's 'family ATM' recognition roughly five years before the FBI was told, and the Harrises' 2020 flight to and capture in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
- Fugitive couple involved in Ayudando Guardians case sentenced. KRQE News 13. Accessed 2026-10-25. Supports: William Harris's 15-year sentence and Susan Harris's 47-year sentence after their capture, and the roughly $11 million taken from veteran, disabled and special-needs clients.
- Couple fails to show up for sentencing in Ayudando Guardians case. KRQE News 13. Accessed 2026-10-25. Supports: Sharon Moore's 20-year sentence, and the Harrises' failure to appear for their originally scheduled sentencing.