Alaska Resident Found Guilty of Wire Fraud
Summary
A federal jury in Portland found Peter Igwacho, 64, a Cameroonian national living in Anchorage, Alaska, guilty of wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon announced on August 22, 2025. According to court documents and trial evidence, Igwacho filed at least five fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds between April 2020 and October 2021 for a sole proprietorship that had no actual business operations, payrolled employees or the reported gross revenues. The release says the funds went to personal expenses rather than approved pandemic-related ones. A grand jury returned a three-count superseding indictment on July 23, 2024. Igwacho faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release, with sentencing set for November 18, 2025.
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Press Release Alaska Resident Found Guilty of Wire Fraud Friday, August 22, 2025 For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Oregon PORTLAND, Ore.—A federal jury in Portland found Peter Igwacho, 64, a Cameroonian national residing in Anchorage, Alaska, guilty Thursday for wire fraud. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between April 2020 and October 2021, during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Igwacho filed at least five fraudulent applications for pandemic stimulus funds through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury and Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. The information on those forms, in support of his request for stimulus funds, was fraudulent. The applications submitted by Igwacho were filed on behalf of a sole proprietorship that did not, in fact, have actual business operations, payrolled employees, or the reported gross revenues. Further, upon receipt of the stimulus funds, Igwacho did not spend those funds on approved pandemic-related expenses but instead spent the money on personal expenses. The PPP and EIDL programs were designed to help small businesses facing financial difficulties during the Covid-19 pandemic. On July 23, 2024, a federal grand jury in Portland returned a three-count superseding indictment charging Igwacho with wire fraud. Igwacho faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. He will be sentenced on November 18, 2025, before a U.S. District Judge. This case was investigated by the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. It was prosecuted by Robert Trisotto and Meredith Bateman, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon. Updated August 22, 2025 Topics COVID-Related Fraud Financial Fraud Component USAO - Oregon Related Content Press Release Springfield Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Theft of Government Property A Springfield, Oregon, woman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to federal prison today for fraudulently obtaining unemployment insurance benefits. June 11, 2026 Press Release Two Utah Men Charged with Conspiring to Defraud the IRS and the Small Business Administration of $5.5 Million A federal grand jury in Portland returned an indictment on Tuesday charging two Provo, Utah, men with conspiring to steal over $5.5 million from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and... June 11, 2026 Press Release Jacksonville Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Fraud and Tax Crimes A Jacksonville, Oregon, man pleaded guilty today to tax evasion, not paying employment taxes, bank fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, announced U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the... June 9, 2026
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