Date: March 12, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
Des Moines, IA — A Des Moines man was sentenced today to 54 months in federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering charges.
According to public court documents, Bryan David Sampica executed a scheme to defraud financial institutions responsible for issuing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans between May 2020 and March 2021. Sampica fraudulently obtained two PPP loans for a company that had no employees, no operations, and no payroll. Sampica falsely claimed that the company had approximately 100 employees and annual payroll in excess of $1 million. Sampica also provided false claims by submitting fraudulent tax documents asserting that the company had millions of dollars in annual receipts and expenses. The PPP loans obtained by Sampica totaled nearly $2 million. Once Sampica received the fraudulently obtained PPP loan funding, he used the fraudulently obtained funds to, among other things, pay off a car loan, transfer money to a family member and trust accounts, and to purchase a yacht.
After completing his term of imprisonment, Sampica will be required to serve a three-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Sampica was also ordered to pay $1,978,345.82 in restitution.
“It’s unfortunate that a relief program such as the Paycheck Protection Program was targeted by fraudsters looking to enrich themselves,” said IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge William Steenson. “Mr. Sampica used millions of dollars in stolen taxpayer funds to pay for cars and yachts while legitimate businesses struggled to survive the pandemic. We’re committed to working alongside our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office to protect taxpayer resources by holding thieves like Mr. Sampica accountable.”
United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the IRS-CI.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.