A federal grand jury returned a 13-count indictment charging three Illinois men for engaging in a Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud scheme in East St. Louis, Illinois.
Dana C. Howard, 52, of O’Fallon, Richard Scott Myers, 63, of Edwardsville, and Glenn Sunnquist, 53, of Swansea, are each facing one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Howard is also facing charges for making a false statement, two counts of bankruptcy fraud and three counts of willful failure to pay taxes. The grand jury also charged Myers with one count of monetary transaction in funds derived from a specified unlawful activity and three counts of bankruptcy fraud.
Howard formerly played for the Dallas Cowboys, St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears of the National Football League. He was an All-American linebacker at the University of Illinois.
In response to financial hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Small Business Administration utilized the Paycheck Protection Program to offer relief and forgivable loans to struggling businesses. Under PPP, business owners could apply for loans to offset operational costs for payroll, employee benefits, facility expenses and other bills.
According to court documents, Howard and Myers were co-owners of construction company Zoie, LLC, and freight company Zade Trucking, both in East St. Louis, Illinois. Sunnquist was employed as a bookkeeper for both businesses.
In April 2020, Howard and Myers applied for and received a PPP loan for $1,426,500 and asserted more than $1.3 million of the funds would be used to keep Zoie operational and employees paid during the pandemic. Howard and Myers are accused of using the large loan for their personal use and to the benefit of another business they owned and not the intended use of the funds.
The indictment further alleges that in 2020 both Meyers and Howard filed for bankruptcy indicating they had little to no PPP loan funds left when in fact combined they had $450,000 available to them through cashier’s checks. Howard and Myers are also alleged to have applied for a second PPP loan for more than $1.4 million in January 2021, falsely indicating they were not involved in any bankruptcy proceedings and thereafter also sought forgiveness of the first loan.
Sunnquist is accused of falsifying Zoie’s expense records and manipulating old invoices to support the loan’s forgiveness application. In September 2022, SBA denied forgiveness of the loan.
An indictment is merely a formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury.
