Iowa Business Owner Sentenced for PPP Fraud and False Declaration of Bankruptcy

Jason Lee Rannfeldt, an Iowa business owner, was sentenced to three years in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger for his fraudulent behavior involving Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. In 2021, he obtained four PPP loans from Vibrant Credit Union for his businesses, resulting in a loss of approximately $262,000. He also used some of these funds for a down payment on a mortgage loan from GreenState Credit Union for his home purchase.

Rannfeldt applied for PPP loans from multiple banks and submitted false and misleading information about his businesses’ income and payroll information on 11 loan applications to obtain or attempted to obtain approximately $1.5 million in PPP loan funds. However, only one bank approved his loan application. He falsely declared bankruptcy in December 2022 and made false statements and omissions according to court documents. As the owner of five different businesses, he pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges including bank fraud, false statements to a financial institution, money laundering, and false bankruptcy declaration.