On February 3, 2021, in the Northern District of California, Christina Burden was charged by criminal complaint with bank fraud in connection with a scheme to illegally obtain more than $4.6 million in pandemic relief loans. Burden was arrested on February 5, 2021.

According to the court documents, between April 2020 through June 2020, Burden submitted 10 fraudulent applications for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, and one fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) application. Burden created four companies that did not appear to engage in a legitimate business or have employees, and listed herself as the companies' authorized representative. Moreover, the loan applications falsely affirmed the companies' dates of existence and falsely claimed that the companies employed upwards of 89 people with monthly payroll expenses of more than $700,000, using fictitious Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax forms and falsified bank statements. None of the companies paid payroll taxes or submitted any payroll tax forms to the IRS. Because of these fraudulent applications, Burden received $1,143,191 in pandemic relief funds.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: DOJ Press Release, February 5, 2021; and N.D. Cal., Crim. Compl., February 3, 2021.