Indian American Got $5 Million in COVID Fraud

HI INDIA NEWS DESK
LOS ANGELES, CA – An Orange County Indian American man has agreed to plead guilty to obtaining more than $5 million in COVID-relief loans for three sham companies.

In 2019 Raghavender Reddy Budamala, acquired three shell companies with no operations. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19, Budamala submitted to the Small Business Administration seven applications for pandemic-relief loans.

Budamala falsely represented to the banks administering the COVID-relief business loan programs that his companies employed dozens of individuals and earned millions of dollars in revenue, and that he needed the money for payroll and business expenses.

The SBA and the banks funded six of the loans and disbursed $5,151,497. Once the loans were funded, Budamala used the money to pay for personal expenses, including the purchase of a $1.2 million investment property in Eagle Rock, the purchase of a $597,585 property in Malibu, the purchase of a personal residence in Irvine, a $970,000 investment in an EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program and a nearly $3 million deposit into Budamala’s personal account.