4 weeks ago
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Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards’ estranged husband, Mauricio Umansky, fired back in court over allegations he and his real estate company, The Agency, obtained $3.5 million in payroll protection program (PPP) loans that they didn’t need, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Mauricio, 54, and The Agency called the allegations in the case brought by Relator LLC “baseless.”
Relator claimed Mauricio and his business partners received PPP and CARES Act loans totaling $3.5 million, which Relator argued Mauricio didn’t need.
In his response, Mauricio explained Relator is a “third party corporation formed by lawyers for a single purpose: to ‘whistle blow’ against entities and profit … from actions against businesses to which it has no actual relationship.”
Further, Maurico’s lawyer added, “Relator makes the specious claim that Defendants falsified information and certifications on its applications for Paycheck Protection Program (‘PPP’) loans in 2020 and 2021 through the use of guesswork, speculation, and contrived facts. The fact that Relator’s Complaint is an artificial account of facts comes as no surprise. Relator is in no way connected to Defendants: Relator was not previously employed by Defendants nor is it otherwise affiliated with Defendants. Relator therefore cannot ascertain or know firsthand the facts surrounding The Agency’s application for PPP loans in the shadow of the COVID-19 global pandemic.”
The attorney continued, “. Based on publicly-available gross sales figures and PPP loan information, Relator makes conclusory statements about The Agency’s financial position that are illogical and unfounded. Relator improperly equates gross sales figures with profits and liquidity, speculates about what percentage of real estate sales The Agency would have received, and—without any information whatsoever—asserts that The Agency falsified payroll numbers.”
Mauricio said the lawsuit was full of “speculation and absurd assertions.”
A judge has yet to rule on the matter.
In the initial lawsuit, Relator LLC wrote, “This is a case about greed during a national health emergency.”
“Those two programs [PPP and CARES Act] were enacted for the sole purpose of preventing termination of employees by providing loans to businesses that were unable to pay them due to the impact of COVID-19, not to bolster or preserve the profits of a business that had sufficient funds available to pay its employees,” the suit explained.
Relator LLC claimed Mauricio obtained the loans despite knowing The Agency’s profits, “would have been minimally impacted if at all, because their revenue was based on a percentage of real estate transactions, typically between millionaires and billionaires, not consumers who were unable to buy goods or dine out because of the COVID-19 restrictions. In fact, The Agency’s business grew massively during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The suit said The Agency had $6 billion in sales volume in 2019 but that rose to $6.5 billion in 2020 and “ballooned to $11.2 billion in 2021.”
“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 ample liquidity to do so. Instead, they only bolstered Defendants’ profits,” the suit alleged.
The suit ended, “The fraud to protect profits here is all the more egregious because [Mauricio] and [his business partner], who co-own The Agency, are already extremely wealthy individuals who each own tens of millions of dollars of real estate. Reducing or foregoing distribution of profits if necessary for a period of time would not have made it financially impossible to keep their business in operation.”
Relator demanded the court enter judgment against each defendant in an amount equal to “three times the damages that the United States has sustained because of Defendants’ actions, plus a civil penalty of not less than $12,537 and not more than $25,076 for each and every false claim as are required by law.”
A rep for The Agency previously told In Touch, “While we are unable to comment on ongoing litigation, we want to emphasize that The Agency has always operated with the highest level of integrity in all aspects of our business. Like many companies, we faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, including layoffs and cutbacks. Our focus has always been, and especially during that challenging period, on delivering exceptional service to our customers and supporting our employees. The claims in this case do not reflect the reality of our operations and financial situation at the time we filed for our PPP loans, and we intend to vigorously defend against these meritless claims.”
Mauricio and Kyle, 55, split in July 2023, the same month the lawsuit was brought against Mauricio, after 27 years of marriage.
As In Touch first reported, Mauricio also filed to place his father under a conservatorship this month.
English (US) ·