Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia
A Dumfries resident has admitted to wire fraud related to a COVID-19 relief program, as announced by authorities in Alexandria, Virginia. Kingsley Apenteng, 40, pled guilty to the fraudulent acquisition of funds through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was designed to assist businesses during the pandemic.
Court documents reveal that Apenteng owned Pioneers Real Estate LLC from 2017 to 2021. During this period, the company had no employees and conducted no business activities. In March 2021, Apenteng submitted a loan application for $149,740 under the PPP scheme. He falsely claimed that Pioneers employed nine people with an average monthly payroll of $59,896 throughout 2019 and early 2020.
To support his application, Apenteng fabricated tax return forms and IRS Forms 941 for each quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020. He forged a professional tax preparer's digital signature on these documents. Additionally, he altered a bank statement to falsely indicate payroll payments in early 2020.
Apenteng's fraudulent application was submitted electronically around March 10, 2021. Consequently, his loan was approved on April 28, resulting in him receiving the full requested amount. Later that year, on November 2, he applied for loan forgiveness from the Small Business Administration (SBA), again misrepresenting employee numbers and wage expenditures. The SBA granted forgiveness on November 9 without any repayment from Apenteng.
Scheduled for sentencing on May 6, Apenteng faces up to two decades in prison. However, actual sentences are generally less severe than maximum penalties due to various judicial considerations.
The announcement was made by Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, alongside Sean Ryan from the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division after Judge Leonie M. Brinkema accepted the plea deal.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Harvey is handling prosecution duties for this case.
Further information about this case can be found on the websites of both the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and PACER under Case No. 1:25-cr-21.
