Umansky and his real estate company allegedly borrowed $3.5 million from PPPs.
The lawsuit accuses Umansky of fraudulently obtaining over $3.5 million in loans for epidemic relief.
In its July 2023 complaint, Realtor LLC claimed that Umansky, 54, and his business partner, William “Billy” Rose, through their luxury real estate firm, The Agency, filed for and received two $3,521,153 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and CARES Act loans.
To prevent layoffs, the initiative lent money to firms unable to pay workers due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The lawsuit accused Umansky’s company of “falsely” verifying their need for loans to pay staff.
Realtor LLC alleged that The Agency, featured on Netflix’s Buying Beverly Hills, was among the large, profitable companies that obtained pandemic loans by misrepresenting their financial situations, claiming eligibility, or misrepresenting funding usage.
The complaint said the men “later applied for and received full loan forgiveness, knowing they were ineligible for the loans in the first place.” The loan limit was 2.5 times the monthly salary, with a maximum annual salary of $100,000 per employee.
The Agency’s profits, according to the filing, “would have been minimal, if at all, impacted because their revenue was based on a percentage of real estate transactions, typically between millionaires and billionaires, not consumers who were unable to buy goods or dine out due to COVID-19 restrictions.”
The suit stated that the firm’s “business grew massively” during the epidemic, with sales rising from $6 billion in 2019 to $6.5 billion in 2020 and “ballooned to $11.2 billion in 2021.”
The agency refuted the charges, citing numerous sources, stating, “Like many companies, we faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, including layoffs and cutbacks.” We intend to actively defend against these meritless claims, which do not reflect our activities and financial status when we applied for our PPP loans.
Umansky is well known for his friendship with Kyle Richards of RHOBH. After 27 years, they divorced in July 2023. The couple share Alexia, 28, Sophia, 24 and Portia (pictured) who is just 16 years old. Umansky is the stepfather of Richards’ 35 year old daughter Farrah with ex-husband Guraish Aldjufrie.
Following some seasons on RHOBH, Umansky appeared on the Netflix series Buying Beverly Hills, chronicling his career at The Agency that he started in 2017. In the series, Umansky worked alongside his daughters Farrah and Alexia.
