Businessman gets prison sentence in scheme to defraud Covid bank loans

Investigator: James Bunker used money to buy $1.3 million Sioux Falls home

A Sioux Falls businessman will serve nearly two years in federal prison for submitting fraudulent loan documents to obtain a Covid pandemic bank loan.

Judge Karen Schreier also ordered that James Bunker forfeit several properties in Sioux Falls and $20,000 in cash on Monday. She delayed a restitution order pending the sale of a $1.3 million Sioux Falls home, the proceeds of which would be used to repay about $2 million in outstanding Covid loan balances.

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It could have been worse for Bunker. He faced 16 counts of submitting bogus paperwork for the purpose of obtaining Covid relief loans under the Main Street Lending Program and Paycheck Protection Program. All told Bunker, through his companies, Genuine Builders Inc., Tri-State Ag Services and Falls Framing, took about $10 million.  

Last year, he agreed to plead guilty to one of the 16 counts.

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