The U.S. Attorney’s office is charging the former director of the Flats Oxbow Association with stealing some $584,000 from the association over five years. Thomas Newman faces one count of embezzlement and one of money laundering.

Spokesman Mike Tobin says 65-year-old Newman is accused of stealing the money in two ways:

“In one case, he would take the organization’s checks and make them payable to cash and cash those and he did that for a loss in excess of $400,000. The other thing he’s accused of doing is taking the organization’s credit card, and using it to pay for repairs and improvements on a building in the flats that was owned by his wife, but those were not legitimate expenses for the organization to cover.”

Flats Oxbow was a community development corporation set up represent businesses and residents in the resurgent Flats area of Cleveland. In 2009, the city started clamping down on federal grants it passed through to the organization, saying it was doing less and having trouble providing a budget. The association suspended operations last year.