Three indicted in $1.4 million PPP loan fraud scheme

Date: Nov. 25, 2024

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East St. Louis, IL - A federal grand jury returned a 13-count indictment charging three Metro East men for engaging in a PPP loan fraud scheme in East St. Louis.

Dana C. Howard of O'Fallon, Richard Scott Myers of Edwardsville, and Glenn Sunnquist of Swansea are each facing one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Howard is also facing charges for making a false statement, two counts of bankruptcy fraud and three counts of willful failure to pay taxes. The grand jury also charged Myers with one count of monetary transaction in funds derived from a specified unlawful activity and three counts of bankruptcy fraud.

"In one of the most prevalent and widespread fraud crimes in American history, any greedy individuals who sought to steal from the federal government under false pretenses and enrich themselves with PPP funds will be held accountable under the law," said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe.

In response to financial hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Small Business Administration utilized the Paycheck Protection Program to offer relief and forgivable loans to struggling businesses. Under PPP, business owners could apply for loans to offset operational costs for payroll, employee benefits, facility expenses and other bills.

According to court documents, Howard and Myers were co-owners of construction company Zoie, LLC, and freight company Zade Trucking, both in East St. Louis. Sunnquist was employed as a bookkeeper for both businesses.

In April 2020, Howard and Myers applied for and received a PPP loan for $1,426,500 and asserted more than $1.3 million of the funds would be used to keep Zoie operational and employees paid during the pandemic. Howard and Myers are accused of using the large loan for their personal use and to the benefit of another business they owned and not the intended use of the funds.

"The nation as a whole may have moved on from COVID, but IRS Criminal Investigation continues to track down fraudsters who stole money from pandemic relief programs to enrich themselves," said IRS-CI St. Louis Field Office Special Agent in Charge Bill Steenson. "Those individuals must be held accountable."

The indictment further alleges that in 2020 both Meyers and Howard filed for bankruptcy indicating they had little to no PPP loan funds left when in fact combined they had $450,000 available to them through cashier's checks. Howard and Myers are also alleged to have applied for a second PPP loan for more than $1.4 million in January 2021, falsely indicating they were not involved in any bankruptcy proceedings and thereafter also sought forgiveness of the first loan.

"COVID fraud was massive in scale and ultimately the cost will be paid by American taxpayers for generations to come," said FBI Springfield Special Agent in Charge Christopher Johnson. "The FBI has opened thousands of investigations across the country targeting COVID-related fraud, working diligently in collaboration with our partners to hold thieves accountable."

Sunnquist is accused of falsifying Zoie's expense records and manipulating old invoices to support the loan's forgiveness application. In September 2022, SBA denied forgiveness of the loan.

An indictment is merely a formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury.

IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI Springfield Field Office are contributing to the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Burke is prosecuting the case.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.