Eden Prairie Man Sentenced to 87 Months for COVID-19 Relief Fraud

For plotting the federal COVID-19 relief programs, a guy from Eden Prairie was given a term of more than seven years in prison. The man, identified as Harold Bennie Kaeding, 75, was convicted of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering and was sentenced to 87 months in prison. Kaeding was ordered to pay restitution and face three years of supervised release in addition to prison time, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said last Friday.

Kaeding fraudulently applied for about $2.1 million through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program and the Paycheck Protection Program between March and May 2020. He applied for loans using the names of six corporate firms that were dormant or nonexistent at the start of the pandemic using the identities of close family members, according to evidence given during the trial. “Kaeding instead fabricated tax documents, manufactured bank statements, and submitted other records to ensure the applications appeared legitimate,”detailed the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Eventually, banks discovered some wrongdoing and retrieved a portion of the money, leaving Kaeding with $658,490 from his initial windfall.

According to reports, Kaeding used the embezzled money to finance a number of personal projects, such as buying an SUV, preventing the foreclosure of his house, and accumulating more than $80,000 in cash. Early last year, Kaeding had fled to Colombia due to an upcoming inquiry, but he was later deported back to the United States for prosecution. After a ten-day trial, a federal jury found him guilty on November 15, 2024, and U.S. District Court Judge Eric C. Tostrud sentenced him last week.

Kaeding was apprehended and charged as a result of the FBI and IRS working together on the investigation. The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert M. Lewis and Jordan L. Sing. The press statement highlights that the legal system is still on guard against those who try to take advantage of government assistance programs meant for people who have been severely affected financially by the pandemic.

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