Irvine, CA–An Orange County man was arrested today on federal charges alleging he fraudulently obtained approximately $5 million in Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans for his sham businesses, then used the money on himself, including purchasing Ferrari, Bentley and Lamborghini sports cars.
Mustafa Qadiri, 38, of Irvine, was named in a federal grand jury indictment returned Wednesday charging him with four counts of bank fraud, four counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and six counts of money laundering.
Qadiri surrendered to special agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Los Angeles this morning and is expected to make his initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court. The case is the result of an investigation by HSI’s El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force – including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Division – and the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General.
According to the indictment, Qadiri claimed to have operated four Newport Beach-based companies, none of which are currently in operation: All American Lending, Inc., All American Capital Holdings, Inc., RadMediaLab, Inc., and Ad Blot, Inc.
In May and June of 2020, Qadiri allegedly submitted false and fraudulent PPP loan applications to three banks on behalf of those companies. The false information allegedly included the number of employees to whom the companies paid wages, altered bank account records with inflated balances, and fictitious quarterly federal tax return forms. Qadiri allegedly also used someone else’s name, Social Security number and signature to fraudulently apply for one of the loans.
Relying on this false information, the banks funded the PPP loan applications and transferred approximately $5 million to accounts Qadiri controlled, according to the indictment. Qadiri allegedly used the fraudulently obtained PPP loan proceeds for his own personal benefit, including for expenses prohibited under the requirements of the PPP program, such as the purchase of luxury vehicles, lavish vacations, and the payment of his personal expenses.
HSI special agents have seized the Ferrari, Bentley and Lamborghini cars that Qadiri allegedly purchased with the fraudulently obtained PPP loans, along with $2 million in alleged ill-gotten gains from his bank account.
