Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Mauricio Umansky hasn’t had the best couple of years. Not only is he separated from Kyle Richards, but he was also involved in a skiing accident that left him with serious injuries. Now, he has something to celebrate as he recently won a federal court battle.
As fans will recall, Mauricio and his business partner were accused of greed during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. This involved allegations of them fraudulently obtaining $3.4 million worth of Payroll Protection Program (PPP) Loans. The case was brought about by Relator LLC.
US Weekly recently obtained court documents that show that a federal judge dismissed the case against Mauricio, The Agency, and Williams Rose, who is his business partner. This happened because the judge believed there was no evidence that the parties had presented false information to obtain the previously mentioned loans. Notably, the legal team for The Agency argued that Relator LLC had no firsthand knowledge of their finances.
Mauricio’s attorney said, “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.”
He then stated that the lawsuit was full of “speculation and absurd assertion.” A representative from The Agency had this to say about the case being dismissed: “We are pleased the court saw through this baseless lawsuit and dismissed it in its entirety. The decision confirms what we’ve said all along: the claims against us were false. We will always stand strong against and challenge false allegations. Integrity and transparency are core to how we operate, and we won’t hesitate to protect our reputation.”
Relator LLC initially filed the federal lawsuit in July 2023 against Mauricio, William, and The Agency. It stated that the parties received two Payroll Protection Program loans during the COVID-19 pandemic that totaled $3.4 million, both of which were later forgiven.
The problem is that Relator LLC claimed it didn’t need the PPP loans. They stated that The Agency actually grew during the pandemic and generated $11.2 billion in 2021.
The suit read, “The fraud to protect profits here is all the more egregious because [Umansky] and [Rose], 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.”
A rep for The Agency said at the time, “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.”
They continued, “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.”
