Man charged with fraudulently obtaining $2M in COVID relief aid
A Nevada man charged with fraudulently obtaining nearly $2 million of federal coronavirus relief aid was remanded Friday.
Jorge Abramovs has been charged with one count of bank fraud after allegedly going through at least seven banks to apply for federal Paycheck Protection Program funds, intended for small businesses, between April and June of last year, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Friday.
“Financial analysis shows that Abramovs spent the money on purchases of luxury items for himself, including the purchase of a 2020 Bentley, a 2020 Tesla, and two condominiums located in Veers Towers in Las Vegas, Nevada,” the criminal complaint noted of the $1,986,737.46 would-be aid money he obtained.
The alleged fraudster used several company names and variations of the same address when applying for the funds, according to the charging document.
Those business aliases include National Investment Group, National Investment Group Corporation and National Legal Advisors In Care Of.
He claimed in one such application that NIGC employed 18 people and had a nearly $65,000 average monthly payroll, and in another claimed it had 49 employees and an average monthly payroll of just over $55,000, according to the complaint.
In his applications, Abramovs said he would use the loan for rent and payroll and certified he wouldn’t receive an additional PPP loan. In actuality, he received at least six in NIGC’s name and at least five in NLA’s, according to prosecutors.
The feds started to keep an eye on the NIGC storefront in the fall, after learning in August there were no records of unemployment insurance payments made by the company, for which Abramovs claimed to be the president, director, treasurer, and secretary.
The alleged scam artist was ordered remanded in custody during his early Friday detention hearing.
