Denver’s Steve Randall Howe has been unceremoniously charged with twenty counts of bank fraud and seven counts of money laundering, federal prosecutors revealed in a Wednesday indictment. The charges stem from an alleged scheme to defraud the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) through Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.
Howe is accused of securing over $1.2 million in PPP loans for six businesses he claimed ownership of between April 2020 and January 2022. According to the indictment, Howe submitted falsified information and fraudulent documents to lenders, portraying his companies as eligible for the SBA loans when they were not. The funds were then channeled into unauthorized expenses such as residential property purchases, retail shopping sprees, travel expenditures, and cross-border money transfers to China.
Further investigation revealed that Howe applied for loan forgiveness on each of these fraudulent loans, failing to make a single payment. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law in March 2020, created the PPP to provide financial aid to businesses struggling with pandemic-related economic challenges. The SBA administered the program, offering loans that could be forgiven if used for eligible expenses.
The defendant made his first appearance on July 2, 2025, before United States Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter in Denver. As per legal protocol, Howe is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the prosecution.
Investigations into this case are being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Taylor Glogiewicz and Craig Fansler are handling the prosecution. Individuals with information regarding potential COVID-19-related fraud can report it to the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or through an online complaint form available at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
The case number is 25-cr-00197-NYW. This grim tale of financial chicanery underscores the lengths some will go to exploit emergency aid intended for genuine economic relief during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Key Facts
- State: Colorado
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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