Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has charged a West Bloomfield couple with several crimes for submitting fraudulent loan applications to the Payroll Protection Program (PPP).
Adebowale Ajagbe, 46, is charged with:
• Two counts of false pretenses, $20,000 less than $50,000, 15-year felonies.
• Two counts of using a computer to commit a crime, 10-year felonies.
• Two counts of uttering and publishing, 14-year felonies.
• Conspiracy to commit false pretenses, a 15-year felony.
Tracy Hall, 38, is charged with:
• One count of false pretenses $20,000 less than $50,000, a 15-year felony.
• One count of using a computer to commit a crime contrary, a 10-year felony.
• One count of uttering and publishing, a 14-year felony.
• Conspiracy to commit false pretenses, a 15-year felony.
The couple was arraigned last Thursday morning in front of the magistrate at Oakland County 48th District Court. Both received a $50,000 personal recognizance bond.
Ajagbe is accused of applying for and receiving $47,500 in PPP funds at the beginning of May 2020 after claiming in a loan application that he had eight employees and a monthly payroll of $19,000 connected to a company called Zuvan Technologies. The Department learned there were no unemployment payroll withholdings for anyone associated with the company.
Hall is accused of applying for $52,000 in PPP funds at the end of June 2020 on behalf of DND Global Marketing, claiming the company had a monthly payroll of $20,800 for 15 employees. Hall ultimately secured $49,010 despite the company having no employees and a business registration that lapsed after having no annual filings since 2010.
Then at the end of July 2020, Ajagbe is accused of securing $49,165 in PPP funds for a third business, Mercury Financial Corp., despite the company dissolving in 2008.
“Financial relief offered to struggling businesses caught up in the devastation created by COVID-19 has been a lifeline to countless Michiganders and people across the country as we continue to navigate this pandemic,” Nessel said. “My office will not tolerate attempts to take advantage of those funds when so many continue to struggle to make ends meet right now.”
Ajagbe and Hall are scheduled for a probable cause conference May 25 and preliminary exam June 1 in front of Judge Diane D’Agostini.
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