Grand jury indicts local man for submitting false PPP loan application

CINCINNATI – A Cincinnati man is charged with wire fraud as part of a scheme to fraudulently obtain a Covid relief loan.

Kelton McClarrin, 32, allegedly received nearly $21,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under false pretenses and used the money for personal expenditures including jail commissary services, CashApp, Grubhub, DoorDash, Facebook purchases and hotels.

McClarrin was brought into federal custody today.

According to the indictment, McClarrin applied for a Covid relief loan on May 16, 2021, falsely claiming in the application that he was the sole owner of a business named “Kelton McClarrin.” McClarrin claimed his business was established in 2019 and had a gross income of $100,000 for that year. It is alleged that McClarrin also submitted a forged bank statement in support of the loan application.

McClarrin was sentenced to two years in prison in a Hamilton County case on May 7, 2019. He remained incarcerated until Nov. 17, 2020, when he was paroled to a halfway house. He used the address of the halfway house as his business address on the loan application.

In April 2022, McClarrin applied for loan forgiveness for the $21,000 PPP loan. He stated on the application forms that he had 20 employees and had spent $20,000 of the loan on payroll costs.

Wire fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, announced the charges. The case was investigated by the Social Security’s Office of Inspector General, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Marshals, and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. Special Assistant United States Attorney Timothy Landry is representing the United States in this case.

An indictment merely contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

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