A former Culver City restaurateur who illegally obtained more than $4 million in COVID-19 business relief was sentenced Thursday to 41 months in federal prison.
Philip Frederick Camino, 46, was immediately taken into custody when U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter considered new allegations of fraud for the defendant. Camino had requested to delay the start of his prison term until mid-July so he could “wind down” his apartment in Florida and other responsibilities.
Camino pleaded guilty Aug. 29 to a count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Camino owned a hospitality company that developed restaurants and hotels in California, Tennessee and Kentucky, according to prosecutors.
Camino, who owned multiple companies based in Hollywood, Westwood, Studio City and Beverly Hills and in Arizona, submitted 17 bogus applications to the federal government for pandemic-relief loans.
The Canadian citizen’s attorney, Michael Freedman, argued that his client knew he was facing a 41-month sentence as part of his plea deal and volunteered to return to the U.S. to plead guilty and face the consequences so there’s no risk of him fleeing.
But assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Waier said that given the new allegations of fraud there is a question of whether Camino would not report to prison and that he also represented a danger to society.
FBI special agent Linda Kline filed a declaration in the case reporting several people alleging Camino had defrauded them. One man said Camino used a bogus name of Philip Whitlum while working at Blackwater Capital, Kline said.
The client said Camino showed him he was making money off a stock investment of $60,000 so he invested $40,000 more, Kline said.
A month later, the client said he saw “red flags” and asked for his money back but never heard from him again, and the client sued Camino, Kline said.
A Blackwater Capital employee in March told Kline in March that Camino applied for an LLC under the man’s name without his consent, Kline said.
The FBI also received a complaint in April that Camino was “obtaining money from investors ranging from $50,000 to (more than $1 million) and keeping the funds without investing them,” Kline said. Several of those investors sued Camino, Kline said.
Another couple said they invested $150,000 with Camino not knowing he had pleaded guilty to COVID-19 fraud and have not gotten their money back, Kline said.
Freedman said he wasn’t prepared to address the new allegations and characterized his client’s COVID-19 fraud as a “result of poor judgment and decision making.”
Camino ordered several brain scans to better understand why he broke the law, Freedman said. The scans showed he had sustained brain damage “playing sports as a youth” and during the pandemic struggled with alcohol and drug abuse, the attorney said.
Camino told Slaughter that he took full responsibility for his crimes.
“I pleaded guilty because I am guilty,” Camino said. “What I did was wrong.”
He added, “I am not here to offer excuses … I knew what I had done was indefensible.”
Camino returned to the U.S. in 2023 to face the consequences, he said.
“I didn’t want to keep running from my responsibilities,” he said. “I am deeply sorry to the government, to the public and to this court.”
Waier said Camino’s claim to return to the country to face charges was “puzzling to the government” as it took years negotiating with a prior attorney for Camino’s surrender and that prosecutors were unaware “he ever moved back to Canada.”
Slaughter was more blunt about Camino’s motivation for his crimes.
“This was just greed,” Slaughter said.
As for Camino’s work history more recently, Slaughter said, “What kind of work is being done now? … It’s not very impressive to the court.”
Slaughter ordered Camino to pay $4,365,667.50 in restitution. The government seized $249,990 from Camino that will be credited toward the amount he owes.