Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards’ ex Mauricio Umansky won his federal court battle where he was accused of alleged greed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Us Weekly can exclusively report
According to court documents obtained by Us, the case brought by Relator LLC against Umansky, his real estate company, The Agency, and his business partner, William Rose, was dismissed by a federal judge.
The judge sided with Umansky, 55, and said there was no evidence to support the allegations that he and his team made false representations to fraudulently obtain $3.4 million worth of Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans. The case was closed the same day.
A rep for The Agency tells Us, “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.”
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As Us previously reported, Relator LLC filed a federal lawsuit against Umansky, his real estate company, The Agency, and his business partner, William Rose, in July 2023.
The complaint alleged that Umansky, Rose and The Agency obtained two Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans during the pandemic. The two loans, totaling $3.4 million, were forgiven, according to court documents.
The government provided the loans to prevent companies from having to lay off employees and to keep their businesses afloat.
Relator LLC accused the defendants of being greedy and believed The Agency did not need the PPP loans. In court documents, Relator LLC made the case that Umansky’s company grew during the pandemic and pointed to the $11.2 billion in sales it made in 2021.
The suit claimed Umansky and his team made false representations about The Agency’s business to obtain the loans.
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“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.”
The lawsuit demanded a judgment be entered against The Agency, Umansky and Rose.
A rep for The Agency released a statement adamantly denying the claims after news of the lawsuit broke.
The rep said, “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.”
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They added, “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.”
In court, Umansky and his team fired back at the allegations made by Relator LLC. A lawyer for the defendants argued Relator LLC had no connection to The Agency and possessed no first-hand knowledge of the company’s finances.
A lawyer for Umansky wrote, “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.”
He continued, “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.”
The lawsuit was full of “speculation and absurd assertion,” Umansky’s lawyer alleged.
