She lied to get $1.1M in COVID loans then went on luxury shopping spree in CA, feds say
A 32-year-old woman went on a luxury shopping spree with $1.1 million in fraudulently obtained COVID-19 relief loans, federal officials said.
Christina Burden, of Oakland, was sentenced to three years in prison on bank fraud and money laundering charges on Feb. 24, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California said in a news release.
Burden is accused of fraudulently applying for $4.6 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for four companies that were fake, according to a criminal complaint.
She ended up with $1.1 million from the false applications, the complaint says.
An attorney for Burden told McClatchy News she didn’t have a comment.
With the fraudulently obtained money, Burden spent $124,000 on luxury purchases from Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, the San Francisco Giants Dugout Store, Sunglass Hut, Tumi and Wayfair, according to the complaint.
She also spent $184,000 on airfare, private jet travel and hotels as well as thousands on restaurants and boat and car rentals, a special agent said in the complaint.
In addition to the luxury items and traveling expenses, she wired money to people who spent it on cars, including a Mercedes, Land Rover and Nissan, the agent said.
She was ordered to pay $1,143,191 in restitution and face three years of supervised release.
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 2:15 PM with the headline "She lied to get $1.1M in COVID loans then went on luxury shopping spree in CA, feds say."
