Mauricio Umansky has been accused of fraudulently obtaining $3.5 million from pandemic relief loans.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Thursday, August 29, Realtor LLC claimed in a new lawsuit that Umansky, 54, and his real estate company, The Agency, applied for and received two Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and CARES Act loans in the total amount of $3,521,153.00.
The program was created to help prevent the termination of employees by providing loans to businesses that were unable to pay workers due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit accused Umansky’s company of “falsely” certifying their need for the loans to pay their employees. The docs stated the amounts The Agency “applied for and received exceeded the loan limit of 2.5 monthly salary with a cap of $100,000 annual salary per employee.”
Realtor LLC alleged that Umansky’s company would have been minimally impacted by the pandemic shutdown because their revenue came from real estate transactions “typically between millionaires and billionaires,” not consumers who were unable to buy goods because of the restrictions from the shut-down. The filing claimed that The Agency’s business “grew massively” during the pandemic by earning $6.5 billion in 2020 and $11.2 billion the following year.
“With this knowledge, Defendants would have retained significant reserves to continue to pay their employees. To do otherwise would have been grossly irresponsible, especially for experts in the real estate markets,” the docs read. “As alleged above, Defendants expressly did not hold themselves out as grossly irresponsible and their experience and success confirms they were not.”
The lawsuit asked the court that Umansky and his business pay equal to three times the amount of damages caused.
In Touch was the first to report the news. Umansky denied the allegations to the outlet. A rep for the agency addressed the allegations to Us.
“While we are unable to comment on ongoing litigation, 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,” the statement read. “Our focus has always been, and especially during that challenging period, on delivering exceptional service to our customers and supporting our employees. 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.”
Umansky is best known for his relationship with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards. The couple split in July 2023 after 27 years of marriage. The estranged couple, who have yet to file for divorce, share daughters Alexia, 28, Sophia, 24, and Portia, 16. Umansky is also stepfather to Richards’ daughter Farrah, 35, whom she shares with ex-husband Guraish Aldjufrie.
After appearing on RHOBH for several seasons, Umansky got his own Netflix series, Buying Beverly Hills, that followed his work life at The Agency, which he founded in 2017. In the series, Umanskey works alongside his daughters Farrah and Alexia. The show was canceled earlier this year by Netflix following season two.
