Ibanga Etuk, PPP Loan Scam, Oklahoma 2023

Clint Johnson, Acting U.S. Attorney, announced that Ibanga Etuk, a 41-year-old Tulsa man, was sentenced to four years in federal prison for his role in a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan scam.

Etuk was sentenced to two years for bank fraud and two years for aggravated identity theft by U.S. District Judge Claire V. Eagan. He was also ordered to pay $168,000 in restitution to Chickasaw Community Bank.

According to a plea agreement, Etuk knowingly applied for a $300,000 PPP loan from Frontier State Bank under false pretenses from April 6, 2020, to April 29, 2020. He lied about the number of people employed during the previous months of purported operations, payroll expenditures, taxes paid, ownership of the business, and relationships between the parties.

Etuk also unlawfully used another individual’s identity on payroll records submitted to Frontier State Bank when he applied for the loan.

Etuk’s wife, Teosha Etuk, also pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud on April 6, 2021, and was sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release. She was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to First Liberty Bank for her role in a similar PPP loan scam.

The investigation into Etuk’s scheme was conducted by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Office of Inspector General, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristin Harrington and Victor A.S. Régal prosecuted the case.

Etuk’s sentencing marks the latest in a string of high-profile PPP loan scams in the United States. The Justice Department has made combating PPP loan fraud a priority, and has taken steps to prosecute those who have attempted to exploit the program for personal gain.

For more information on the Justice Department’s COVID-19 response, visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. To report a COVID-19-related fraud scheme or suspicious activity, contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud by calling the NCDF Hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

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