BISMARCK, ND — Federal prosecutors say a Bismarck man who is a self-employed pastor and entrepreneur is accused of stealing about $1.6 million from the government.

This indictment from the United States District Court details two different types of fraud that prosecutors say Issac Afoakwa committed against the government.

The first involved the two types of federal loans, which the man received, totaling to $1.6 million. One is called the Paycheck Protection Program. It started during COVID-19 and was designed to help small businesses maintain their payrolls during that time. The indictment reads that the man applied for loans for six different companies.

He also received money for eight Economic Injury Disaster loans.

The second part of the indictment accuses Afoakwa of billing Medicaid for transportation rides that no one took.

He ran a company called Bismarck Transportation Services.

The indictment reads that he made “numerous materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements or representations to North Dakota Medicaid.”

The billing cost the state’s Medicaid program about $100,000.

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