Jefferson City businessman sentenced 12 years in $26 million fraud scheme

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City businessman who pleaded guilty earlier this year to three felonies, including fraud, was sentenced in federal court on Thursday, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

Tod Ray Keilholz, 61, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison without parole. He pleaded guilty on March 28 to bank fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft. He owned of TRK Construction, LLC, TRK Valpo, LLC, TL Builders, LLC, and Project Design, LLC, the release says.

He is being held at the Cole County Jail.

The release says the scheme lasted from Jan. 1, 2018-Jan. 7, 2021. Keilholz obtained three business loans totaling $3,526,771 from Hawthorn Bank between Aug. 31, 2017-Sept. 21, 2018 As Keilholz’s businesses failed, the loans fell into default and sub-contractors sued him for unpaid invoices from 2019 and 2020, the release says. In February 2020, Hawthorn Bank initiated foreclosure proceedings. Keilholz delayed the foreclosure proceedings and paid off loans and other past due debts with fraudulent PPP loans, the release says.

According to the release, Keilholz received $12,430,932 in PPP loans for his four businesses. In each of those loan applications, he failed to disclose his ownership in the other three businesses and made false claims, the release says.

Keilholz received a $1,706,260 PPP loan for TRK Construction, a $3,618,815 PPP loan for TL Builders, a $3,903,857 PPP loan for Project Design, and a $3,202,000 PPP loan for TRK Valpo, the release says.

The release says Keilholz must forfeit to the government any property involved in, or derived from the proceeds of his bank fraud scheme, including a money judgment of $12,430,932, two properties in Jefferson City, one property in Valparaiso, Indiana, one property in La Porte, Indiana, four vehicles, two tractors, a watch and other items.

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