In what might be the most audacious PPP fraud scheme we've covered yet, a Marietta, Georgia man has been sentenced to nearly 15 years in federal prison for a $13 million fraud scheme that used celebrity names, fictional character names, and what can only be described as pure comedic desperation to steal millions from taxpayers.
Olorunyemi Tarjagbo, 50, didn't just stop at using one fake name. Oh no. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, his fraudulent PPP loan applications included the names of:
• Keanu Reeves (the actual actor)
• Gene Hackman (also an actual actor)
• Charlie Brown (a cartoon character who owns a beagle)
• Nancy Drew (a teenage detective from 1930s fiction)
• John Snow (unclear if Game of Thrones or the epidemiologist)
• Emilia Clarke (the actress who played Daenerys Targaryen)
Let that sink in for a moment. Someone submitted a PPP application in the name of Charlie Brown, a PEANUTS comic strip character who struggles to kick footballs, and a bank said "Looks good to us!" and wired nearly ten million dollars.
Nancy Drew, the teenage sleuth from a series of novels published since 1930, apparently needed pandemic relief for her detective agency. Gene Hackman, who has been retired from acting since 2004 and is now 95 years old, supposedly had pressing business expenses. And Keanu Reeves, worth an estimated $400 million, desperately needed government assistance for his... checks notes... surely legitimate small business?
Meanwhile, just last month, the SBA announced it suspended 6,900 Minnesota borrowers over suspected fraud totaling approximately $400 million in PPP and EIDL loans. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler stated these individuals will be "banned from all SBA loan programs, including disaster loans, going forward" and that appropriate cases will be referred to federal law enforcement.
The Minnesota fraud probe has already resulted in more than 90 federal charges in what prosecutors called "industrial-scale fraud." Congressional hearings on the matter are scheduled for February 10, 2026, with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz invited to testify.
Tarjagbo will serve nearly 15 years in federal prison. But the larger question remains: How many Charlie Browns, Nancy Drews, and Keanu Reeves are still out there in the PPP loan system, their fraudulent applications long since forgiven during the Biden administration's mass forgiveness programs?
According to the SBA, approximately $430 million in PPP funds tied to roughly 13,000 loans in Minnesota alone were flagged as potentially fraudulent but were funded anyway, including some that were subsequently forgiven.
Your tax dollars at work, folks. Good grief, indeed.