A California man who spent COVID-19 relief loans on a Ferrari, Bentley and Lamborghini was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on Friday.
Mustafa Qadiri, 42, of Irvine, was also ordered to pay $2.8 restitution and a $20,000 fine, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Qadiri had fraudulently obtained $5 million in pandemic relief loans and used the money to live big — buying expensive cars and taking lavish vacations, prosecutors said.
He had filed claims for the federal Paycheck Protection Program in May and June 2020 on behalf of four separate Newport Beach companies that were in fact defunct at the time, officials say.
Qadiri created false tax returns and falsified bank balances in exchange for funds Congress had appropriated to provide emergency aid to small businesses crippled by the pandemic.
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He pleaded guilty in July 2021 to bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering, after authorities confiscated the sports cars in addition to $2 million in cash from his bank accounts.
Several friends who wrote character references for the COVID-19 con artist blamed the staggering fraud on his alcohol addiction, and Qadiri reportedly asked prison officials to place him in a residential substance abuse program.
The sentencing came a week after federal officials estimated that at least $191 billion in pandemic unemployment claims had been stolen or misdistributed.
New York Post
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