Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) officials said a California man has been arrested on federal charges, alleging he fraudulently obtained approximately $5 million in Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans.
Authorities noted Mustafa Qadiri, 38, of Irvine, was named in a returned federal grand jury indictment 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 – alleging Qadiri spent the funds on himself, including purchasing Ferrari, Bentley, and Lamborghini sports cars.
Per ICE, Qadiri surrendered to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents and indicated the case stems from the HSI’s El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force investigation, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Division, and the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General.
Per the indictment, Qadiri claimed to have operated four Newport Beach-based companies, with none of the sites currently in operation – detailing in May and June of 2020, Qadiri allegedly submitted false and fraudulent PPP loan applications to three banks on behalf of the 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, according to the indictment.