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Colorado suspect charged in connection with small business COVID-19 loan fraud

By None None May 27, 2025 | updated 2 months ago

A Colorado man was charged in connection with loan fraud relating to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

According to a news release from The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, Joseph Ronald Trenkle, 54 — formerly of Cherry Hills Village, Colorado and currently of Dorado, Puerto Rico — has been charged with one count each of wire fraud and money laundering.

Between April 30, 2020, and February 25, 2022, Trenkle applied for and received $1.85 million in COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the Small Business Administration and $2,999,995 in Paycheck Protection Program funds from an SBA-approved lender, according to the release.

After obtaining the EIDL loan in March 2020, Trenkle made two requests to increase the loan amount and made false representations in each request.

The release also outlines that Trenckle submitted two fraudulent PPP loan applications as well as fraudulent applications for loan forgiveness for each PPP loan.

The CARES act was intended to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The act created PPP, a program overseen by the SBA that provided loans to small businesses to maintain operational expenses such as retaining workers and maintaining payroll.

The CARES Act also authorized the SBA to provide EIDL loans to small businesses facing financial trouble in the face of the pandemic.

Trenkle made his initial appearance on May 22, 2025, in Denver in front of Federal Magistrate Judge Cyrus Y. Chung.

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in collaboration with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Fansler is prosecuting the case.

Those with any information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 relief funds can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.

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