KANSAS CITY WOMAN GETS 87 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR PPP FRAUD, CO-D

KANSAS CITY WOMAN GETS 87 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR PPP FRAUD, CO-DEFENDANT HAD 253 STOLEN TREASURY CHECKS WORTH $700K JUST LYING AROUND THE HOUSE

Posted: February 26, 2026 - 10:30 AM ET | NEW

Every time you think the PPP fraud stories can't get any dumber, America delivers. Rasheeda McDaniel, a 43-year-old Kansas City woman, was sentenced on February 25, 2026, to 87 months in federal prison, which works out to 7 years and 3 months, for filing false PPP loan applications and identity theft. And honestly? The sentence feels light when you hear what she and her co-defendant were up to.

        McDaniel claimed $147,412 in gross receipts on her PPP application. Her actual tax return showed ZERO taxable income. Not low income. Not reduced income. ZERO.

    

PPP Loan Fraud Sentencing 2026: The $20,832 Speedrun

Here's how Rasheeda McDaniel's criminal masterplan went down. She submitted PPP loan applications claiming $147,412 in gross receipts for her business. The SBA, in its infinite wisdom and legendary oversight capabilities, approved her for a $20,832 loan. What did McDaniel do with this freshly approved pandemic relief money that was supposed to keep employees on payroll and businesses afloat? She withdrew $15,000 in cash the same day. Not gradually. Not over weeks. Same. Day. Fifteen thousand dollars, straight out the door, presumably stuffed into a bag like a bank heist in a bad movie.

The problem, of course, is that her actual tax return showed zero taxable income. Not a little income. Not a struggling-but-trying income. Zero. Nothing. The empty set. She claimed nearly $150K in receipts while reporting exactly nothing to the IRS. And somehow, the PPP application process, which the SBA assured us had "robust fraud prevention measures," looked at this and said, "Yep, checks out, here's your twenty grand."

Co-Defendant Briauna Adams: Because Why Stop at PPP Fraud When You Can Also Steal $700K in Treasury Checks

But the real star of this criminal circus is McDaniel's co-defendant, 29-year-old Briauna Adams, who was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. Why the extra time? Oh, probably because when investigators searched Adams' home, they found 253 stolen U.S. Treasury checks worth approximately $700,000 just casually hanging around. Two hundred and fifty-three checks. Seven hundred thousand dollars. In her house. Like she was collecting them.

Let that number wash over you. This wasn't a couple of checks that "accidentally" ended up in the wrong mailbox. This was a quarter of a thousand stolen government checks. The total scope of this fraud operation adds up to $540,302 in PPP losses plus over $3 million in stolen Treasury checks. We're talking about a multi-million dollar fraud ring operating out of Kansas City, and one of the key players was literally hoarding stolen checks at home like they were baseball cards.

        253 stolen U.S. Treasury checks worth approximately $700,000 were found at co-defendant Briauna Adams' home. She got 11 years. The total fraud scope: $540,302 in PPP losses + $3 million+ in stolen checks.

    

Why PPP Fraud Prosecutions in 2026 Still Matter (While the SBA Crumbles)

Here's what makes stories like this infuriating in context. The DOJ is still sentencing PPP fraudsters in 2026, six years after the pandemic loans were distributed, and they should be. These people stole money that was supposed to save small businesses. McDaniel filed applications with fabricated income while actual business owners with real employees were getting denied or waiting months for approval. Every dollar stolen was a dollar that didn't go to a restaurant trying to keep its kitchen staff employed or a retail shop trying to survive lockdowns.

But while the DOJ is handing out 87-month sentences to individual grifters who stole $20,000, the SBA itself is being gutted by DOGE. The same agency that failed to catch McDaniel's zero-income-claiming-$147K application is now operating with 43% fewer employees. The same agency that let billions flow to fraudsters is now eliminating its own credit scoring systems and making small loans harder for legitimate borrowers to access. The criminals already got their money. The honest business owners are the ones paying the price.

McDaniel will serve 87 months thinking about that $15,000 cash withdrawal. Adams will serve 11 years thinking about those 253 checks. And somewhere in Washington, the SBA will continue to fumble, stumble, and self-destruct while claiming everything is fine. Just another day in the greatest small business support system on Earth.