Ex-Palm Springs restaurant owner admits to $4 million in pandemic relief fraud

A former downtown Palm Springs restaurant owner has agreed to plead guilty to defrauding federal pandemic relief programs out of more than $4 million, court records show.

Philip Frederick Camino, who owned Stout Burgers and Beer, submitted over 20 fraudulent applications to the loan programs aimed at helping businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a complaint filed by federal prosecutors. He used two people identified only as co-conspirators to include additional companies in his scheme, giving a kickback payment of $100,000 to one of them.

In all, prosecutors say, Camino's businesses across California got more than $4.1 million in loans.

Described as a Canadian citizen controlling several companies related to Stout and other businesses, Camino signed an agreement May 31 saying he will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a felony. He was scheduled to appear in court on Monday, but an update was not provided as of Tuesday afternoon.

The Federal Public Defender's Office, which is representing Camino, did not respond to requests for comment.

Stout Burgers and Beer was a chain gourmet burger restaurant with several locations across California. Its Palm Springs franchise was in the same building as the Rowan Hotel downtown and apparently closed in the fall of 2023, according to social media postings.

The owners of what appears to be the last Stout location, in Los Angeles, could not be reached.

In the plea agreement, prosecutors describe a scheme by which Camino would inflate the number of employees, provide fictitious federal tax forms and falsely certify that loan proceeds would be used for permissible business purposes in applications to the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

The scheme lasted for about a year, beginning around April 2020, according to the plea agreement.

Both federal loan programs were meant to provide funds for normal business operations. However, authorities say — without divulging specifics — that Camino used "the majority" of funds for prohibited expenses.

Camino enlisted the help of two co-conspirators to use Arizona companies for additional applications, according to the plea agreement.

Data compiled by ProPublica shows Stout Palm Springs LLC, the company connected with Camino's Palm Springs restaurant, got a loan for $180,260 on May 15, 2020 . The company said the entire amount would go toward payroll, according to ProPublica.

Camino faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment followed by a three-year period of supervised released and a fine of at least $250,000. However, the US Attorneys Office recommended a reduced sentence that could be influenced by a number of factors like past criminal history.

Sam Morgen covers the city of Palm Springs for The Desert Sun. Reach him at smorgen@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Ex-Palm Springs restaurant owner admits to $4 million in pandemic relief fraud