Woodkirk Stone
A man from Tulsa who fraudulently applied for forgivable loans from the Small Business Administration-guaranteed Paycheck Protection Program under the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act was convicted today by a federal court, Interim U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson has announced.
US District Judge Claire V. Eagan sentenced 41-year-old Ibanga Etuk to a total of four years in federal prison – two years for bank fraud and two years for aggravated identity theft. Justice Eagan also ordered Etuk to pay $ 168,000 in restitution to the Chickasaw Community Bank.
In a plea deal, Etuk admitted that from April 6, 2020 to April 29, 2020, he knowingly requested a loan from the Frontier State Bank Paycheck Protection Program under false pretenses. The defendant lied about the number of people employed in the previous months of alleged operation, salary expenses in previous months, taxes paid in previous months of operation, company ownership and relationships between the parties in a loan application of $ 300,000 submitted for AboveAll Business Inc.
At the same time, Etuk illegally used the identity of another person on payroll records submitted to Frontier State Bank when he applied for the $ 300,000 loan.
Etuk’s wife Teosha Etuk also fraudulently applied for loans from the Paycheck Protection Program. She pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud on April 6, 2021. She was sentenced on July 19, 2021 to one year and one day in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay compensation in the amount of $ 150,000 to First Liberty Bank.
In a plea deal, Teosha Etuk, 33, admitted that from April 14, 2020 until April 29, 2020, she fraudulently applied for a paycheck protection program loan through First Liberty Bank. Specifically, she lied about the number of people employed in previous months of alleged operation, salary expenses in previous months, taxes paid in previous months of operation, business ownership and relationships. between the conspirators in a $ 150,000 loan application for TMARK Enterprises, Inc.
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Office of Consumer Financial Protection Office of the Inspector General; Office of the Inspector General of Small Business Administration; and the FBI investigated. Assistant US prosecutors Kristin Harrington and Victor AS Régal are continuing the case.
To learn more about the Department of Justice’s COVID response, visit: https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. For more information on the Criminal Division’s enforcement efforts on PPP fraud, including important case court documents, visit the following website: https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/ ppp-fraud.
To report a COVID-19 fraud scheme or suspicious activity, contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) by calling the NCDF hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or through the NCDF online complaint form at ‘address: https: // www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-for