A Culver City businessman, who built his reputation on the Los Angeles hospitality scene, has admitted to pocketing more than $4 million by fraudulently capitalizing on COVID-19 relief programs. In an admission that reflects the darker side of the pandemic's economic fallout, Philip Frederick Camino, 45, pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The government's initiatives — Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) — were lifelines thrown into the riptides of a shuttered economy to keep businesses afloat and workers employed. Instead, between April 2020 and April 2021, Camino spun a web of deceit involving inflated employee numbers, fictitious tax documents, and misappropriation of funds for non-permissible purposes. The culver culinary entrepreneur used a portion of the fraudulently obtained funds to throw north of $100,000 in kickbacks to an accomplice.
The scheme unraveled when detailed investigations by Homeland Security, the FBI, and IRS Criminal Investigation pierced through the veneer of falsified applications Camino had submitted for various companies he owned across multiple states. This netted Camino more than $4 million, which should have been a financial salve to his enterprises in Hollywood, Westwood, Studio City, Beverly Hills, and Arizona — and by extension, to those who toiled within them.
United States District Judge Fred W. Slaughter has set a March 6, 2025, date for sentencing Camino, who could face up to 20 years in federal prison for his role in the scheme.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer L. Waier of the Santa Ana Branch Office.
