Former Iowa business owner sentenced to 5 years for bank fraud, money laundering

CEDAR RAPIDS — A former Iowa business owner who submitted more than $100,000 in false claims for pandemic paycheck protection and additional false unemployment benefits and illegally possessed ammunition as a felon was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison.

Justin Eugene Dowie, 41, of Cedar Rapids, pleaded guilty in July to one count each of bank fraud, money laundering and possessing ammunition as a felon.

Evidence during sentencing and other pretrial hearings showed Dowie repeatedly submitted false applications to the Small Business Administration in attempts to receive Paycheck Protection Program loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans in 2020 and 2021. During the pandemic, Congress authorized those loans to assist businesses and individuals facing financial impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dowie, former president of defunct Taylor Business Services LLC, submitted false claims for about $1 million in paycheck protection and disaster loans from the SBA, and while many of his attempts were unsuccessful, he received more than $100,000 in his own name and using a stolen identity.

During the same time, Dowie also received more than $50,000 in false unemployment insurance benefits from Iowa, again using his own name and a stolen identity, according to court documents.

Dowie also conducted other fraud schemes on individuals, including stealing insurance benefits intended for a victim of the derecho in August 2020 and obtained more than $13,000 from a line of credit.

Dowie, who also did business in the Des Moines area, has a lengthy criminal history, including 16 previous convictions, prosecutors said. In late 2022 and early 2023, Dowie possessed firearms and ammunition, which he can’t legally possess because of his felony convictions for drunken driving in 2008, conspiracy to commit a nonforcible felony in 2015 and attempted eluding in 2018.

U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams also ordered Dowie to pay $190,540 in victim restitution. He also must serve five years of supervised release following his prison term.

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