FBI: Las Vegas man used COVID relief funds to buy Bentley, Strip condos

Fri, Jan 22, 2021 (6:30 p.m.)

A Las Vegas man who defrauded almost $2 million from the federal paycheck protection program used the money to buy 2020 Tesla and Bentley cars and two luxury apartments on the Strip, according to the FBI.

Jorge Abramovs was arrested on Jan. 15 on a count of bank fraud, according to court logs. He remained in custody following a hearing Friday in Las Vegas federal court.

The loan forgiveness program is part of the CARES Act stimulus package to help businesses struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Borrowers must guarantee they will use the funds for payroll, rent and utilities.

In the 12 loans Abramovs received for his three businesses last spring, he agreed with those stipulations, and additionally acknowledged a clause that said he couldn’t seek more than one loan until after Dec. 31, according to the FBI complaint.

Although they were legally registered in Nevada, it wasn’t clear what type of businesses Abramovs operated. And they had the vague names, “National Investment Group Corporation,” National Legal Advisors'' and “National Legal Advisors in Care Of.”

Websites and social media accounts linked to the businesses have been deleted. A site that hadn’t been deleted for “National Investment Group” had ambiguous descriptions offering staffing and legal services.

His public defender could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the loan applications, Abramovs provided substantially different employee numbers, which ranged from around 20 to about 70, the complaint said.

When the FBI conducted surveillance on the address associated with the businesses, they described it as a “storefront” with fewer than a handful of people inside.

Tracking financial records, investigators found that Abramovs used $250,000 of the illicitly obtained money to buy a 2020 Bentley Continental GT in June, the FBI said.

A couple of weeks later, he traded in a leased Tesla for a newer model, paying off about $55,000 in difference, the FBI said. Most of the money (80%) came from the PPP loans, according to the complaint.

In May, he paid about $225,000 for a condominium in the Veer Towers, a luxury high-rise in CityCenter, said the FBI, noting that about 80% of the money came from the illicitly obtained funds.

The following month, he paid $410,000 from the PPP loans for a second unit in the same tower, which is located on the Strip, the FBI said.

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