Oakland Woman Charged In Million Dollar Scheme To Defraud Pandemic Relief

OAKLAND – Christina Burden was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint charging her with bank fraud in connection with a scheme to illegally obtain more than $4.5 million in pandemic relief loans, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson; Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Special Agent in Charge Craig D. Fair; and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Daniels.   

Christina Burden, 31, of Oakland, is charged in the complaint with one count of committing bank fraud on or about June 20, 2020, when she applied for and later received $684,375 in a forgivable loan from the government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for her shell entity “Blessing Box Co LLC.”  The complaint further describes a scheme in which Burden submitted nine other fraudulent applications for PPP loans between April and June of 2020, one of which resulted in her receiving an additional $307,916 in PPP funds. In total, Burden attempted to obtain over $4.5 million in PPP forgivable loans for four different shell entities. 

During this time, Burden also submitted one fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) application for one of the same shell entities, for which she received $150,900 in funds.  The four entities had recently been created by Burden, according to the complaint, and do not appear to engage in any legitimate business nor to have any employees.  Loan applications for both PPP and EIDL loans are required to be certified by the applicant as true, and the criminal complaint describes how Burden’s applications contained false information and misleading statements as well as doctored bank statements and fictitious tax forms.

Burden ultimately obtained a total of over $1 million in fraudulent pandemic relief loans, including almost $1 million in PPP funds.  The PPP requires that its funds be used for legitimate business and payroll expenses, and the complaint describes how Burden spent the bulk of the loan money on personal indulgences, including private jet travel, hotel stays, boat rentals, expensive automobiles, luxury goods purchased from Louis Vuitton and Neiman Marcus, and specialty items purchased from the Sunglass Hut and the San Francisco Giants Dugout Store.

“The Paycheck Protection Program provides a financial lifeline to needy businesses and their employees,” said U.S. Attorney Anderson.  “We allege that Christina Burden obtained PPP funds by fraud, submitting false business information, false employee numbers, false bank statements, and false tax returns.  She used those funds for a spending spree on entertainment, luxury goods, and high end excursions, including travel by private jet.”  

“The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration aggressively pursues those who endeavor to defraud taxpayer-funded Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act programs, which were established to provide assistance to American business owners during these unprecedented times,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.  “We appreciate the efforts of the U.S. Department Justice and our law enforcement partners in this effort.”

“As we begin a second round of PPP loans for small businesses who are struggling during this pandemic, we will be on alert for fraudsters who seek to take advantage of the program,” said FBI San Francisco Special Agent in Charge Craig Fair. “Those who wish to defraud programs designed to help those in need should know that the FBI and our partners will pursue every investigative tool available to us to ensure the integrity of those programs and that they remain available to our community’s small business owners.”

“Christina Burden allegedly used fraudulently obtained funds from the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan program to unjustly enrich…