Federal law enforcement officials arrested an Oakland woman Friday for her alleged role in a scheme to illegally obtain some $4.5 million in federal relief loans.
According to the federal criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office, Christina Burden, 31, is charged with one count of bank fraud after she applied for and received a $684,375 loan last June from the Paycheck Protection Program for her shell company “Blessing Box Co. LLC.”
Between April and June 2020, Burden allegedly submitted nine other fraudulent applications to the PPP, which was established last March to help businesses keep their employees on payroll and afford expenses like interest on mortgages, rent and utilities during the coronavirus pandemic.
Burden also submitted a fraudulent application for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.
Burden ultimately received $307,916 in forgivable PPP loans and a $150,900 EIDL Program loan in addition to the initial $684,375 loan, but allegedly attempted to obtain more than $4.5 million in loans through the use of four different shell entities, according to the complaint.
Burden spent the bulk of the loan money, the complaint alleges, on private jet travel, hotel and boat rentals, expensive cars and goods from Nordstrom, Tumi, Wayfair, Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, Sunglass Hut and the San Francisco Giants’ Dugout Store.
None of the money Burden received was used to recoup expenses allowed under the PPP or EIDL programs, the complaint alleges.
“The Paycheck Protection Program provides a financial lifeline to needy businesses and their employees,” U.S. Attorney David Anderson said. “We allege that Christina Burden obtained PPP funds by fraud, submitting false business information, false employee numbers, false bank statements and false tax returns. She used those funds for a spending spree on entertainment, luxury goods and high-end excursions.”
The U.S. Attorney’s office worked with the inspector general for tax administration within the U.S. Treasury Department, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Burden’s alleged fraud.
Investigators with the IRS and Treasury Department found that Burden’s loan applications falsely certified that all four businesses were operating before Feb. 15, 2020, and each had up to 89 employees and more than $700,000 in monthly payroll expenses.
However, the complaint alleges that Burden submitted doctored bank records to attest to each company’s payroll expenses and that none of the companies ever submitted payroll tax forms.
“Those who wish to defraud programs designed to help those in need should know that the FBI and our partners will pursue every investigative tool available to us to ensure the integrity of those programs and that they remain available to our community’s small business owners,” said Craig Fair, the FBI’s special agent in charge for San Francisco.
The one count of bank fraud carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, if Burden is convicted, according to Anderson’s office.
Burden was arrested Friday morning in Austin, Texas, and is expected to make her initial court appearance on Monday. She is expected to be ordered to appear in Oakland’s U.S. District Court to face the bank fraud charge.
The date for Burden’s initial court appearance in Oakland has not yet been set, according to Anderson’s office.
Kleptocracy Emulator. What’s the problem? Looks like normal Washington DC behavior to me.
Exactly!
But she “worked” out of Oakland and was arrested in Texas.
Bad decision by her hiding in the most obvious city in Texas where a criminal from California would go, Austin. She should have hid in Amarillo.
must be a democrat/leftie, has she built a wall around herself while telling everyone else that walls don’t work?
On the plus side it sounds like she used the money to stimulate the economy; something we are told to do with our “freebie” stimulus checks.
ambitious
If this is all true, I hope she rots in jail.
It would’ve been okay if she was a prisoner in a California jail
Need another reason to recall King Newsom?
So somebody committing a federal crime is Newsom’s fault? Lol.
No. Simply put, Gavin is fine with as much grift as possible in California. He hasn’t bothered to announce any sort of plan to investigate or prosecute the welfare fraud. He’s just waiting for a big check from Gandpa Joe so he can start spending on pet projects all over again.
It’s nothing personal. He’s a lousy Governor and California needs a new one.
The feds are excellent investigators, she is toast.
Let’s hope she gets at least 20 years in prison.
Anything less would be a miscarriage of justice.
Now I know where my tax money is going. The government should be held accountable for being so stupid and gullible. Makes my blood boil! Isn’t there a paper trail to track all the fraudulent claims? Prosecute including repayment of my tax dollars.
Sell the jet and all the clothes, purses, and other items that are still like new. Make her pay the difference-30+ year in jail. Sad that some people couldn’t get PPP, lost their business as well as the employees of that business losing a job.
I wonder if she feels like it was worth it?
What exactly can you tell by someone’s last name? Not sure I get your point.
Last name is “Burden”. As in “a Burden on society”.
Sounds like she lived high on the hawk. When hopefully she is sitting in prison she can think back on the good times she had with the defrauded money. Should be awhile before she has good times again.
In these parts, the expression is “high on the hog”. Wait, do they eat hawks in Denmark?
I suspect this PPP and other federal programs to assist businesses will turn out to be one of the greatest thefts in American history. Look no further than the EDD. Most of these “loans” will never be paid back. You got to love biden’s pick as acting assistant secretary at the Employment and Training Administration. Suzi Levine left Washington state’s Employment Security Dept. last month despite aduits showing hundreds of millions siphoned off by Nigerian scammers. Just remember kids: when you are large donors to the Biden machine, you can get whatever position you want. I always wanted to be the U.S. Ambassador to France.
… just read in the EB Times $31 Billion of EDD payments were fraud out of some $120 B ….. notice how Newsom doesn’t speak to the lack of ownership , responsibility or leadership under his watch? … far surpasses the $4.5 Million discussed here – not that it’s a problem too …. how about an article about that ? and guess who is going to pay for all of it? 🙁