A California man has been indicted by federal officials for fraudulently acquiring $5.1 million in Paycheck Protection Program monies for four non-operating companies and using the money to finance a luxurious lifestyle, the New York Times reports.
Mustafa Qadiri, a 38-year-old from Irvine, was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of bank fraud, four counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and six counts of money laundering in the Federal District Court of Central California.
Starting in May 2020, Qadiri applied for PPP funds through three different banks using fraudulent bank records. Qadiri then bought a Lamborghini, Ferrari and Bentley, as well as pay for high-end vacations to exotic locations with the money. An investigation found that Qadiri actually had no employees on payroll of any of the companies.
Law enforcement officials confiscated a 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia, a 2018 Lamborghini Aventador S and a 2020 Bentley Continental GT Coupe using a company called All American Capital Holdings on the titles for the vehicles. All American Capital Holdings did not have any known revenue or employees, and it has not filed state taxes in years.
If convicted, Qadiri faces up to 302 years in prison.