Champaign Business Owner Charged with Tax Fraud and Wire Fraud Related to COVID Relief Funds

URBANA, Ill. - A Mahomet, Illinois, man, Hans Lee Grotelueschen, 56, has been charged with allegedly failing to pay employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service and fraud related to Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) administered through the Small Business Administration (SBA).

The information filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of Illinois charges Grotelueschen with nineteen separate counts of collecting employment taxes from the employees of his Champaign-based business, YG Financial Group PC, which included taxes for his employees' Social Security and Medicare payments, but then failing to turn over those taxes, or pay the employer's portion of those taxes, to the IRS. The information alleges that Grotelueschen failed to pay the employees' share of employment taxes totaling $859,552.68 from 2018 through 2024.

The information further charges Grotelueschen with one count of wire fraud for fraudulently obtaining and improperly using pandemic-era loans. The SBA used EIDLs and PPP loans to provide federal funds to small businesses that were directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to pay certain expenses, such as payroll costs, rent, utilities and mortgage interest. The programs were implemented by the SBA and administered by third-party lenders via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security ("CARES") Act, an economic bill that passed in March 2020 in response to the economic fallout caused by the pandemic. The information alleges that Grotelueschen, through his businesses, YG Financial Group PC and YG Hotel Investors LLC, fraudulently obtained EIDLs and PPP loans and then used the proceeds for purposes not permitted by the SBA. Grotelueschen allegedly obtained forgiveness from the SBA for some of the loans by falsely certifying that he had used the loans for payroll costs. The information alleges that the fraudulent loans were obtained between April of 2020 and February of 2022 and totaled $1,727,245.78.

Grotelueschen appeared in federal court in Urbana this week and was released on bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Eric I. Long. A jury trial is scheduled for October 27, 2026, in Urbana.

If convicted, the maximum statutory penalty for wire fraud is thirty years of imprisonment, five years of supervised release, full restitution, and up to a $1 million fine. The maximum statutory penalties for each count of failing to pay employment taxes are up to five years of imprisonment, three years of supervised release, full restitution, and up to a $10,000 fine.

On April 7, 2026, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division ("Fraud Division"). The Fraud Division is investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department's work to combat fraud supports President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

The case investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigations Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller is representing the government in the prosecution.

Members of the public are reminded that an information is merely an accusation; the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.