There’s nothing wrong with wanting to treat yourself to something nice every once in a while. For a car enthusiast, that can only mean finally getting your dream car—or cars, if you can afford them.
That said, if pampering yourself comes at the expense of the less fortunate, you’d better be ready for the consequences. There must be a special place in hell for people who misuse state funds during a particularly difficult time, like the ongoing international health crisis. One man from California just secured his.
The U.S. offers government funds for pandemic relief: the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is meant to offer assistance to businesses during these difficult times in the form of forgivable loans that should keep them from having to lay off staff. This is the third major case in which a private individual has abused the program so that he could treat himself to a brand-new, fancy set of wheels.
The U.S. Attorney's Office has indicted Mustafa Qadiri of Irvine, California, for filing for and obtaining $5.1 million in PPP funds and then spending the money on himself. Among vacations and luxury items, he treated himself to three cars, all of them exceptional in their own right. They are a 2018 Lamborghini Aventador S, a 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia, and a 2020 Bentley Continental GT. The cars have since been seized by authorities.
Qadiri obtained the funds from May to June 2020 by filing with separate banks, using false information, and misappropriating someone else’s social security number. The feds have charged him with four counts of bank fraud, four counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and six counts of money laundering, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office tells the New York Times.
If found guilty, Qadiri faces a maximum collective sentence of 302 years in jail. Here’s hoping he drove the heck out of those cars while he still could because there’s a chance he’s going to be indoors for a long time.
The U.S. offers government funds for pandemic relief: the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is meant to offer assistance to businesses during these difficult times in the form of forgivable loans that should keep them from having to lay off staff. This is the third major case in which a private individual has abused the program so that he could treat himself to a brand-new, fancy set of wheels.
The U.S. Attorney's Office has indicted Mustafa Qadiri of Irvine, California, for filing for and obtaining $5.1 million in PPP funds and then spending the money on himself. Among vacations and luxury items, he treated himself to three cars, all of them exceptional in their own right. They are a 2018 Lamborghini Aventador S, a 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia, and a 2020 Bentley Continental GT. The cars have since been seized by authorities.
Qadiri obtained the funds from May to June 2020 by filing with separate banks, using false information, and misappropriating someone else’s social security number. The feds have charged him with four counts of bank fraud, four counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and six counts of money laundering, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office tells the New York Times.
If found guilty, Qadiri faces a maximum collective sentence of 302 years in jail. Here’s hoping he drove the heck out of those cars while he still could because there’s a chance he’s going to be indoors for a long time.
Federal agents have seized three luxury sports cars allegedly purchased by Mustafa Qadiri, 38, of Irvine, with fraudulently obtained COVID-19 Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans. pic.twitter.com/MIdkjFeZx2
— US Attorney L.A. (@USAO_LosAngeles) May 7, 2021