Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards’ ex-husband, Mauricio Umansky, has just scored a major legal victory. A federal judge has officially dismissed a lawsuit accusing the real estate mogul and his company, The Agency, of fraudulently obtaining over $3 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, the case, filed in July 2023 by a company called Relator LLC—targeted Umansky, his business partner William Rose, and The Agency itself. The complaint claimed the trio wrongfully secured and had forgiven $3.4 million in Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans during the height of the pandemic.
But a federal judge saw things differently. The case was dismissed in its entirety, with the court finding no evidence to support the allegations that Umansky or his team misrepresented their financial situation to secure the loans. The case was closed the same day.
“We are pleased the court saw through this baseless lawsuit and dismissed it in its entirety,” a representative for The Agency told Us. “The decision confirms what we’ve said all along: the claims against us were false. We will always stand strong against and challenge false allegations. Integrity and transparency are core to how we operate, and we won’t hesitate to protect our reputation.”
Relator LLC’s lawsuit painted a damning picture. It accused Umansky and Rose—both described as “extremely wealthy individuals who each own tens of millions of dollars of real estate”—of taking advantage of the government relief program during a time of national crisis.
The plaintiff argued that The Agency, far from struggling, actually flourished during the pandemic, citing its staggering $11.2 billion in sales in 2021 as proof that the PPP funds weren’t needed. The suit stated:
“The fraud to protect profits here is all the more egregious because [Umansky] and [Rose]… are already extremely wealthy… Reducing or foregoing distribution of profits… would not have made it financially impossible to keep their business in operation.”
Relator LLC claimed the company falsified payroll information to obtain the loans, an accusation Umansky’s legal team fiercely denied.
From the outset, Umansky’s legal team pushed back hard. They argued that Relator LLC had no direct connection to The Agency and no insider knowledge of its financials.
“Based on publicly available gross sales figures and PPP loan information, Relator makes conclusory statements about The Agency’s financial position that are illogical and unfounded,” a lawyer for Umansky wrote in a court filing.
The defense further criticized the complaint for conflating revenue with profitability, and for making unsupported claims about employee numbers and payroll data.
“Relator improperly equates gross sales figures with profits and liquidity, speculates about what percentage of real estate sales The Agency would have received, and—without any information whatsoever—asserts that The Agency falsified payroll numbers.”
Calling the case “speculation and absurd assertion,” Umansky’s team ultimately succeeded in convincing the judge to throw it out.
When news of the lawsuit first broke, The Agency quickly issued a statement defending its actions:
“We want to emphasize that The Agency has always operated with the highest level of integrity in all aspects of our business. Like many companies, we faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, including layoffs and cutbacks,” the company stated. “The claims in this case do not reflect the reality of our operations and financial situation at the time we filed for our PPP loans, and we intend to vigorously defend against these meritless claims.”
Now, with the case closed and dismissed, that defense has been vindicated.
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