{"id":49013,"date":"2022-02-26T07:25:11","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T15:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49013"},"modified":"2022-02-26T07:25:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T15:25:11","slug":"man-charged-for-allegedly-getting-more-than-5-million-in-covid-relief-loans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49013","title":{"rendered":"Man Charged for Allegedly Getting More Than $5 Million in COVID-Relief Loans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 LOS ANGELES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" An Orange County man who fled after authorities searched his residence on Wednesday is in federal custody, according to authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Reddy Raghav Budamala was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border and charged with fraudulently obtaining more than $5 million in COVID-relief loans for three sham companies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Reddy Raghav Budamala, 35, of Irvine, was arrested at the border Thursday morning by federal law enforcement. He is being held without bond because he is considered a flight risk, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Visualization<\/p>\n

and made his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon in the United States District Court in Los Angeles. At that hearing, a United States Magistrate Judge ordered Budamala held without bond because he posed a flight risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A criminal complaint filed Thursday charges Budamala with one count of wire fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"\u00a0 According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, Budamala in 2019 formed or acquired three shell companies with no operations \u2013 Hayventure LLC, Pioneer LLC, and XC International LLC. <\/span><\/p>\n

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the enactment of federal programs designed to address the economic fallout from the pandemic, Budamala allegedly submitted to the Small Business Administration (SBA) seven applications for pandemic-relief loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As part of the applications filed from April 2020 through March 2021, Budamala falsely represented to the bank that his companies employed dozens of individuals and earned millions of dollars in revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n

and that he needed the money for payroll and business expenses, the affidavit alleges.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"The listed addresses for the companies were bogus, nonexistent or residential. <\/span><\/p>\n

The states where Budamala\u2019s companies purportedly operated have no records of those companies paying wages to any employees, and bank records for the companies reflect no significant business income or operating expenses. <\/span><\/p>\n

During a February 2021 interview with a State Department official in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a United States passport, Budamala said he wanted the passport so he could get a job, according to the affidavit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The SBA and the banks funded six of the loans and disbursed $5,151,497, the affidavit states. <\/span><\/p>\n

Also, Budamala allegedly applied to have several of the loans forgiven and falsely represented that he had used the SBA money entirely for payroll<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Budamala used the money to pay for personal expenses, including the following:<\/span><\/p>\n