Irvine Man Accused Of Fraudulently Receiving $5M In COVID Relief

LOS ANGELES, CA — An Irvine man was arrested at the United States-Mexico border on Thursday after federal officials accused him of falsely receiving more than $5 million in COVID relief loans.

Reddy Raghav Budamala, 35, was charged with one count of wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday.

If convicted of the charge, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison. He is currently held without bail because a judge said Budamala was a flight risk, authorities said.

Officials said Budamala was caught at the border after he fled from his Irvine home as it was searched by police.

Federal prosecutors said Budamala established three shell companies in 2019 that did not operate at all — Hayventure LLC, Pioneer LLC and XC International LLC.

During the outset of the pandemic, Budamala reportedly submitted pandemic-relief loans for these three businesses under the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan, federal officials said. He claimed his businesses had dozens of employees and earned millions of dollars in revenue, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Around $5,151,497 in loans were given to Budamala to cover payroll and business expenses, federal officials said.

In reality, he had no employees or profits, officials said. The addresses Budamala listed for his businesses were also fake or belonged to residential homes, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Federal officials said they could find no financial records proving the businesses had employees and paid wages.

Budamala used the funds for personal expenses, including purchasing a $1.2 investment property in Los Angeles and a $597,585 property in Malibu, federal officials said.