$2.5M In Fraudulent CARES Act Loans Used For Lexus, Cessna: Feds

LEESBURG, VA — A Leesburg man was charged Tuesday of fraudulently obtaining more than $2.5 million in loans through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act's Paycheck Protection Program, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Didier Kindambu, 48, fraudulently obtained two loans issued under the PPP and then spent the funds on luxury items, the U.S. attorney's office alleged. The PPP program was instituted by Congress as part of the CARES Act in an effort to help businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic continue to pay salary or wages to their employees.

According to court documents, Kindambu carried out the scheme in connection with two businesses that he owns by allegedly creating fraudulent payroll documentation for each business and then submitting that documentation in support of the PPP loan applications. In total, Kindambu allegedly fraudulently obtained about $2,501,753 in loan proceeds and then spent those funds, in part, on a Lexus automobile and a Cessna aircraft.

Kindambu was scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court in Alexandria on Tuesday. He is president of Papillion Air Inc., a cargo and chartered company based at Leesburg Executive Airport, Loudoun Now reported Tuesday.

Kindambu is charged with one count of bank fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties, the U.S. attorney's office said.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Kelly Jackson, special agent in charge of the Washington, D.C. Field Office of the IRS, together with other federal officials, made the announcement about the charges against Kindambu. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Burke will be prosecuting the case.

Other D.C. area residents also have been charged with fraud related to the CARES Act.

An Ashburn man pleaded guilty in August to defrauding the PPP. According to court documents, Tarik Jaafar, 42, conspired with his wife, Monika Magdalena Jaworska, 43, to create four shell companies. These companies allegedly conducted no legitimate business and existed solely as a means to execute the scheme to defraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of Virginia.

Jaafar and Jaworska allegedly fraudulently induced banks to distribute about $1.4 million in loans, which they intended to use for their personal benefit, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Also in August, a D.C. man was charged in federal court for fraudulently obtaining more than $2.1 million in PPP loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Kenneth Gaughan, 41, was arrested and charged on a criminal complaint that said he fraudulently obtained over $2.1 million in PPP and EIDL loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans, which he used, in part, to purchase a $300,000 yacht, a $1.13 million rowhouse, and a $46,000 luxury sports sedan.