Temecula Man Used $7.25M PPP Money On Personal Luxuries, Feds Say

TEMECULA, CA — A Temecula man has been charged with procuring more than $7 million in COVID-19 relief funding from the federal government and using the money to buy luxury items for himself, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Oumar Sissoko, 59, was taken into custody by FBI agents and is slated to make his initial appearance at U.S. District Court in Riverside Thursday on four counts of wire fraud detailed in a grand jury indictment returned on April 13. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count.

According to court documents, last spring Sissoko submitted a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan application on behalf of his company, Road Doctor California LLC, that sought and obtained $7.25 million. The loan application certified that the funds would be used to retain workers and maintain payroll or make mortgage-interest payments, lease payments, and utility payments, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

When Sissoko received the money, he splurged by buying a $100,000 luxury car, paying off the loan on a separate luxury car, and purchasing a $6,000 computer, according to prosecutors.

Sissoko also tried to transfer approximately $150,000 of the PPP money to accounts in the African nation of Mauritania that were associated with a different company he purportedly led, prosecutors said.

The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted on March 29, 2020, to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering economic setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of the program was the authorization of $649 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses through the PPP.

In the months since the CARES Act was passed, Department of Justice Fraud Section attorneys have prosecuted more than 100 defendants in more than 70 criminal cases. The Fraud Section has also seized more than $65 million in cash proceeds derived from fraudulently obtained PPP funds, as well as numerous real-estate properties and luxury items purchased with such proceeds, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.