Kyle Richards’ ex Mario Umansky sued for fraudulently receiving more than $3.5 million in PPP loans
Mario Umansky has found himself in legal trouble over some allegedly fraudulent PPP loans he received during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Umansky, 54, and his real estate company, known simply as The Agency, are accused of fraudulently obtaining $3.5 million in PPP loans during the pandemic.
Umansky, who was married to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards for 27 years until their split in July 2023, is being sued by Realtor LLC.
The lawsuit was filed in July 2023, although according to In-Touchwas recently made public in court, though Umansky — whose Netflix series Buying Beverly Hills was recently canceled — has denied the claims.
The lawsuit alleges that the company submitted false applications for the Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) loans, receiving $3,521,153.
Mario Umansky has found himself in legal trouble over some alleged fraudulent PPP loans he received during the COVID-19 pandemic
Umansky — who was married to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards for 27 years until their split in July 2023 — is being sued by Realtor LLC
The lawsuit alleges the company falsified their applications for the Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) loans, for which they received $3,521,153
The file states: ‘These two programs were put in place solely to prevent workers from being laid off by providing loans to companies that could not pay them due to the impact of COVID-19, and not to increase or retain the profits of a company that had sufficient resources to pay its workers.’
The complaint alleges that Umansky and his partner William “Billy” Rose misrepresented their financial circumstances when applying for the loans, which were not intended to pay their employees but to increase their profits.
“Their profits would have been minimally affected, if at all, because their revenues were based on a percentage of real estate transactions, mostly between millionaires and billionaires, not consumers who could not purchase goods or dine out due to COVID-19 restrictions. In fact, The Agency’s business grew dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the complaint adds.
The lawsuit goes on to allege that The Agency generated $6 billion in revenue in 2019, which grew to $6.5 billion in 2020 and $11.5 billion in 2021.
Realtor LLC adds that the agency falsely claimed they needed these loans to pay their employees and that they were in excess of the loan limit.
The Agency also filed a request for full loan forgiveness and this request was approved, even though it knew it was not eligible for the loans in the first place.
The agency applied for an initial loan of $2.3 million during the first round of the PPP, which was approved. A second loan of $1.1 million was also approved.
“The PPP loans were not necessary to support Defendants’ ongoing operations and pay their employees’ salaries, nor were they used for such purposes because Defendants had sufficient liquidity to do so. Instead, they merely bolstered Defendants’ profits,” the complaint states.
The complaint alleges that Umansky and his partner William “Billy” Rose misrepresented their financial situation when applying for the loans, not to pay their employees, but to increase their profits.
Realtor LLC adds that the agency falsely claimed they needed these loans to pay their employees, and that they exceeded the loan limit
A spokesperson for The Agency responded with a statement that began: “While we cannot comment on the ongoing litigation, we want to emphasize that The Agency has always acted with the highest degree of integrity in all aspects of our business operations.”
“Like many companies, we faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, including layoffs and cutbacks,” the statement said.
“Our focus has always been, and especially during this challenging time, on providing exceptional service to our customers and supporting our employees,” the statement read.
“The claims in this case do not reflect the reality of our operations and financial condition at the time we applied for our PPP loans, and we intend to vigorously defend against these baseless claims,” the statement concluded.