Davenport man convicted of PPP loan fraud

At a sentencing hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Davenport, District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger also ordered Jason Lee Rannfeldt, 52, to serve a five-year sentence on supervised release after serving his prison sentence.

There is no parole in the federal system.

Rannfeld was initially indicted on March 8, 2023, on 14 counts, alleging that he provided “false and misleading” applications for the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, to various financial institutions in order to obtain more than a million dollars in loans for his businesses.

The Paycheck Protection Program was a COVID-19 pandemic relief program administered by the Small Business Administration that provided forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses.

A superseding indictment containing 20 counts against Rannfeldt was issued by a federal grand jury on May 10, 2023. The charges included seven counts of making a false statement to a financial institution, six counts of charge of bank fraud, one count of money laundering, four counts. of material misrepresentation, one count of false declaration of bankruptcy and one count of false declaration under oath.

On November 9, 2023, Rannfeldt pleaded guilty to five of 20 charges, including providing a false statement to a financial institution, money laundering, falsely filing for bankruptcy, and two counts of bank fraud.

According to the plea agreement, Rannfeldt admitted that between November 6, 2020 and September 1, 2021, he obtained funds from the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, through material misrepresentations, including regarding dates of establishment, employee number, amount of income and wages, and intended use of the proceeds when in fact he used the proceeds from the program to make deposits into his personal bank account and as a down payment for a real estate mortgage loan.

Rannfeldt conspired to defraud Cross River Bank, Quad City Bank & Trust, Northeast Bank, US Bank, Vibrant Credit Union and Green State Credit Union, according to court documents.

When applying for PPP loans, Rannfeldt lied about when he started various businesses, including RC Orthotics, RC Performance Therapy, PF Nutrition and Perfect Fit, in order to receive the loans, according to court documents. He also provided false information about the number of employees and the amount of annual payroll.

In total, Rannfeldt received $291,875 in PPP loans from Cross River Bank and Vibrant Credit Union.

Rannfeldt also admitted to participating in a scheme to defraud Green State Credit Union in an attempt to obtain a $588,750 residential loan.

When he and his wife filed for bankruptcy on December 16, 2022, Rannfeldt made false statements and omitted other items in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Statement of Financial Affairs.

Ebinger sentenced Rannfeldt to three years on each of the five counts, but ordered the sentences to be served concurrently or at the same time. She also ordered Rannfeldt to pay $291,875 in restitution.