Orange County man who bought luxury cars with COVID relief funds sentenced to prison

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An Orange County man who fraudulently obtained $5 million in pandemic relief loans and then spent the money on lavish vacations, luxury sports cars and his own personal expenses was sentenced Friday to 4½ years in prison, federal prosecutors said.

Mustafa Qadiri, 42, of Irvine, had obtained the funds by submitting loan applications to the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which Congress created in March 2020 to provide emergency aid to small businesses struggling to survive amid COVID-19 related shutdowns and other business interruptions.

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Qadiri filed the applications in May and June of 2020 on behalf of four separate Newport Beach companies, none of which were actually in operation at the time, federal prosecutors said. Among other deceptions, he lied about the companies’ employee numbers, falsified bank balances and created fake tax returns, officials said.

Then, money in hand, he started his personal spending spree — including by purchasing Ferrari, Bentley and Lamborghini sports cars, federal officials said.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-18/orange-county-man-who-bought-luxury-cars-with-covid-relief-funds-sentenced-to-prison