Woman Pleads Guilty To Bilking Bank Out Of $500,000 In PPP Loans

TAMPA, FL — A 52-year-old Temple Terrace woman pleaded guilty to submitting false information to obtain more than half a million dollars in federal small business loans intended for business owners impacted by the coronavirus.

Bridgitte Keim face a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg said Monday that, between April and May, Keim carried out a scheme to defraud a bank and the U.S. Small Business Administration by submitting fraudulent loan applications and supporting documentation to qualify for the federally guaranteed Payment Protection Program loans. The loans are designed to assist businesses suffering adverse economic effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Handberg said Keim recruited family members to provide their personal information in exchange for free “COVID money.” Keim prepared and submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications to the unnamed bank on behalf of her relatives in the names of fictitious businesses, knowing that her relatives did not own these businesses, did not have employees, had no business income and no payroll expenses as required by the SBA to qualify for PPP loans.

To further deceive the bank, Handberg said Keim created email addresses in the names of her relatives and communicated with bank employees by impersonating her relatives to convince loan officers that they were communicating with the prospective borrowers.

Additionally, Keim sent text messages, which contained the fictitious business names, false financial information and the email addresses she created to her relatives so that her relatives could answer questions from loan officers about the loan applications.

In one case, on March 21, Keim submitted a PPP loan application to the bank in the name of a relative she had recruited. The application contained a fictitious business name, fictitious number of employees, falsified business income and fraudulently represented that the PPP loan funds would be used for payroll.

Based on these false statements, the bank approved a $20,833 PPP loan in the name of Keim’s relative. Keim subsequently diverted $7,500 in loan proceeds to her personal bank account, Handberg said.

The intended losses associated with Keim’s bank fraud scheme total $588,693.14.

This case was investigated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency – Office of Inspector General and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This article originally appeared on the Temple Terrace Patch