Denver man charged with 27 counts in connection with CARES Act fraud

Date: July 3, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.go

DENVER — An indictment was unsealed on Wednesday in Denver charging Steve Randall Howe with twenty counts of bank fraud and seven counts of money laundering in connection with a scheme to defraud the United States Small Business Administration (SBA).

According to the indictment, between April 2020 and January 2022, Howe obtained more than $1.2 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans on behalf of six businesses he owned. To obtain the loans, Howe submitted false information and fabricated documents to lenders to make it appear that those companies were eligible for PPP loans when they were not. Howe then used the loan money for ineligible expenses, like purchases of residential properties, retail purchases, travel expenses, and transfers of money to China. The indictment alleges that Howe then applied for, and received, forgiveness on each loan, never making a single payment on them.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted in March 2020 and was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans dealing with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act created the PPP, a program administered by the SBA that provided loans to small businesses to retain workers, maintain payroll, and pay for certain other expenses consistent with PPP rules. Small businesses could subsequently request forgiveness of the loan after certifying the loan was used to pay for eligible costs.

The defendant made his initial appearance on July 2, 2025, in Denver in front of United States Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter.

The charges contained in the indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Taylor Glogiewicz and Craig Fansler.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.