Omaha Man Sentenced to 5 Years’ Probation for Making a False Statement to the Small Business Administration

United States Attorney Lesley A. Woods announced that M.A. Yah, 64, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced on March 25, 2026, in federal court in Omaha for making a false statement to the Small Business Administration. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr., sentenced Yah to 5 years' probation. As a condition of his probation, Yah was ordered to pay $111,723.07 in restitution.

Starting in 2020, the Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans made by participating lenders to small businesses. To obtain a loan, the representative of the applicant business had to certify that the business was in operation as of February 15, 2020, that it had a certain number of employees as of the date of the application, that it had a specified average monthly payroll, and that it would use the funds for payroll and other specified business purposes. The amount of the PPP loan depended on the business's average monthly payroll. A business was eligible for a loan equal to 2 ½ times its monthly payroll. The greater the business's average monthly payroll, therefore, the larger the loan the business could obtain, subject to a cap. Financial institutions and other private lenders received and processed applications, forwarded information to the SBA so the funds could be earmarked, and funded the PPP loans with their own money.

M.A. Yah is the director of The Heartland News. The Heartland News is a non-profit domestic corporation that was incorporated in the State of Nebraska in 2010. The Heartland News is a non-profit newspaper that is focused on doing work with and for the homeless.

On May 1, 2020, Yah applied for a PPP loan in the amount of $100,800 through Financial Institution 1. As part of his loan application, Yah certified that The Heartland News had paid the applicable payroll taxes for its purported employees, when Yah knew that The Heartland News had not paid payroll taxes.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.