10-Year Statute of Limitations for PPP and EIDL Fraud Explained
So your probably wondering if the government can still prosecute you for PPP or EIDL fraud that happened back in 2020 or 2021, and the answer is YES—they have until 2030, 2031, or even 2032 depending on when the fraud occurred. In August 2022, Congress passed two laws extending the statute of limitations for pandemic loan fraud from 5 years to 10 years. That means if you submitted a fraudulent PPP application in April 2020, federal prosecutors have until April 2030 to indict you. If you got an EIDL loan in 2021, there still investigating cases and bringing charges in 2025, 2026, and beyond.
We represent clients facing PPP and EIDL fraud investigations throughout California and the federal system, and one of the most common misconceptions we hear is “that was five years ago, I thought I was safe.” You’re not. The 10-year statute of limitations means prosecutions will continue well into the 2030s, and the Department of Justice has shown no signs of slowing down. In fact, prosecution rates INCREASED in 2024-2025 compared to 2022-2023, as investigators finished working through the massive volume of suspicious applications and started focusing on the larger, more complex cases.
The extension was controversial—some argued it was unfair to change the rules retroactively, while others pointed out that the original 5-year period was too short given the scale of fraud and the time needed to investigate it. Congress ultimately decided that pandemic loan fraud deserved the same 10-year limitations period as bank fraud, and President Biden signed both bills in August 2022. So if your thinking “it’s been a while, maybe there not coming after me,” understand that there’s potentially years remaining before the statute runs. And if your under investigation now, there’s still time for prosecutors to build there case and bring charges.
What Changed in 2022 With the Statute of Limitations?
Before August 2022, most federal fraud offenses had a 5-year statute of limitations under 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a). That meant prosecutors had to indict defendants within 5 years of when the offense occurred. The major exception was bank fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1344, which has a 10-year statute of limitations under § 3293. Since PPP loans were made by banks and credit unions (financial institutions), prosecutors could charge PPP fraud as bank fraud and get the benefit of the 10-year period. But EIDL loans were made directly by the SBA, not banks, so bank fraud didn’t apply—EIDL cases were limited to the 5-year period under wire fraud, false statements, or other statutes.
Congress addressed this inconsistency with two bills. The PPP and Bank Fraud Enforcement Harmonization Act of 2022 explicitly set a 10-year statute of limitations for offenses involving PPP loans. The COVID-19 EIDL Fraud Statute of Limitations Act of 2022 did the same for EIDL loans. Both bills passed with bipartisan support and were signed by President Biden on August 5, 2022. The effect was to give prosecutors 10 years from the date of the offense to bring charges in ANY pandemic loan fraud case, regardless of which specific statutes were charged or whether the loan came from a bank or the SBA.
The laws apply RETROACTIVELY, meaning they extend the statute of limitations for offenses that occurred before the laws were passed. So if someone committed PPP fraud in May 2020, the original 5-year statute would have expired in May 2025. But under the 2022 extension, prosecutors now have until May 2030 to indict. Courts have upheld the retroactive application of statute of limitations extensions as long as the original period hadn’t already expired when the extension was passed. Since the 2022 laws were passed before any 5-year periods had run (the earliest PPP loans were in April 2020, so the 5-year mark wasn’t until April 2025), the extension applies to all pandemic loan fraud cases.
The practical effect is that prosecutions will continue for years. The first round of PPP loans went out in April-June 2020, so the 10-year statute runs until 2030. The second round (PPP Second Draw) was in early 2021, extending the window to 2031. EIDL loans continued into 2021 and early 2022, so some EIDL fraud prosecutions can continue into 2032. Federal investigators and prosecutors have made clear they intend to use the full 10-year period—this isn’t a situation where there wrapping up cases quickly. The fraud was too widespread, the amounts too large, and the political pressure too intense for the government to just move on.
When Does the 10-Year Statute of Limitations Start Running?
The statute of limitations begins on the date the offense was COMMITTED, not when it was discovered. For PPP and EIDL fraud, that’s typically the date you submitted the fraudulent application or the date the loan proceeds were disbursed, depending on which act constitutes the offense. The timing matters because different fraudulent acts might trigger different limitations periods, and prosecutors will choose the date that gives them the most time.
For fraud offenses involving false statements on a loan application, the statute starts when you SUBMITTED the application. If you filed a PPP application with false payroll information on May 15, 2020, the 10-year statute runs from May 15, 2020, giving prosecutors until May 15, 2030, to indict you. If you submitted multiple applications on different dates, each application starts its own statute of limitations clock. So if you filed three fraudulent PPP applications in June 2020, August 2020, and January 2021, there are three separate 10-year periods running from each submission date.
For fraud involving USE of the loan proceeds, the statute might start when you spent the money in ways that violated the program requirements. If you received a PPP loan in June 2020 and spent it on prohibited expenses over the following months, prosecutors might argue the offense continued through the date of the last fraudulent expenditure. This “continuing offense” theory can extend the statute of limitations period, but it’s contested—defendants argue the offense is complete when the loan is obtained through false statements, not when the money is spent.
For fraud involving the FORGIVENESS application, a separate statute of limitations runs from when you submitted the forgiveness application. If you got a PPP loan in May 2020 through legitimate means, but then submitted a fraudulent forgiveness application in November 2020 claiming you spent the money on payroll when you actually spent it on personal expenses, the 10-year period for forgiveness fraud runs from November 2020 (until November 2030). This is why some defendants face exposure for both the initial loan fraud AND separate forgiveness fraud—two different acts, two different limitations periods.
The general rule under federal law is that the statute of limitations is NOT tolled (paused) while the defendant is hiding or evading arrest. In most cases, if you moved to another state or kept a low profile, that doesn’t extend the 10-year period. But there ARE exceptions. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3290, if a defendant flees from justice, the statute is suspended during the time there fleeing. This requires prosecutors to prove you left the jurisdiction with intent to avoid prosecution, which is difficult. Simply moving or traveling doesn’t constitute flight. But if you learned you were under investigation and immediately left the country or went into hiding, that could suspend the statute until your apprehended.
Can I Still Be Prosecuted for a 2020 PPP Loan in 2025?
Absolutely. If you committed PPP fraud in 2020, prosecutors have until 2030 to bring charges—2025 is right in the middle of that window. And prosecutions are still happening at high rates. The DOJ announced in 2024 that they’ve charged over 3,000 defendants with pandemic loan fraud and they’re continuing to investigate thousands more cases. The pace of new indictments hasn’t slowed—in some districts, more PPP fraud cases were filed in 2024 than in 2022 or 2023, as investigators completed there work on complex multi-defendant schemes and large-dollar frauds.
The typical investigation timeline for PPP fraud is 18 months to 3 years from when red flags are detected to when charges are filed. So fraud that occurred in 2020 might not result in an indictment until 2023, 2024, or 2025, simply because it took that long to investigate. The SBA, Treasury Department, and federal law enforcement are using data analytics to identify suspicious patterns—multiple loans to the same person or address, applications with identical information, businesses that didn’t exist, payroll numbers that don’t match tax records, rapid spending on luxury items. Those data hits generate investigative leads, which take time to develop into prosecutable cases.
Large-scale cases take even longer. If you were part of a fraud ring involving 20+ defendants, prosecutors need to interview witnesses, execute search warrants, analyze financial records for multiple subjects, coordinate with multiple agencies, and build the conspiracy case before indicting anyone. Those investigations can take 3, 4, 5 years. So defendants who committed fraud in 2020 might not see any investigative activity until 2024 or 2025, then suddenly get target letters, search warrants, or indictments. The fact that years have passed doesn’t mean your safe—it might just mean your case is in the queue and hasn’t been prioritized yet.
Certain categories of cases are being prioritized. High-dollar frauds (over $500,000), schemes involving identity theft or stolen information, cases with organized fraud rings or professional loan preparers, and cases involving particularly egregious spending (luxury cars, jewelry, gambling) are prosecuted more aggressively than small-dollar cases with isolated conduct. If your fraud involved $20,000 and you spent it on rent and bills, your case might be lower priority than someone who stole $500,000 and bought a Lamborghini. But “lower priority” doesn’t mean “safe”—it just means you might be charged in 2026 or 2027 rather than 2024.
Does the Statute of Limitations Apply to Civil Cases Too?
The 2022 laws extended the statute of limitations for BOTH criminal and civil enforcement. For criminal cases, that means federal prosecutors have 10 years to indict you. For civil cases, that means the government has 10 years to sue you under the False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. § 3729) or other civil fraud statutes. Civil liability is separate from criminal liability—you can be sued civilly even if your not criminally charged, and a civil judgment doesn’t preclude criminal prosecution (or vice versa).
The False Claims Act allows the government to recover treble damages (three times the loss) plus civil penalties of $13,946 to $27,894 per false claim (the amounts are adjusted for inflation). So if you fraudulently obtained $50,000 in PPP funds, the civil exposure is $150,000 (treble damages) plus penalties—potentially $175,000-$200,000 total. And the statute of limitations for FCA cases is the later of 6 years from the violation OR 3 years from when the government knew or should have known about the violation, but in no event more than 10 years. For PPP fraud, that effectively means 10 years in most cases.
The government can also pursue administrative remedies. The SBA can deny forgiveness, demand repayment, impose administrative penalties, debar you from future government contracting, and refer your case to Treasury for collection. Those administrative actions aren’t subject to the same statute of limitations as criminal prosecutions—the SBA’s authority to audit loans and demand repayment extends for 6 years after the loan is forgiven or repaid, and longer if there’s evidence of fraud. So even if the 10-year criminal statute runs without prosecution, you might still face civil lawsuits or administrative actions.
In some cases, the government pursues parallel proceedings—criminal charges AND a civil FCA lawsuit. The civil case is usually stayed (paused) while the criminal case proceeds, then resumed after the criminal case concludes. If your convicted criminally, that conviction can be used as evidence in the civil case (collateral estoppel), making it much easier for the government to win the civil judgment. So the 10-year statute for civil cases means your exposure doesn’t end even if prosecutors decide not to bring criminal charges—you could still face a massive civil judgment.
What If My Loan Was Already Forgiven—Can They Still Prosecute Me?
Yes. Loan forgiveness by the SBA or the lender doesn’t prevent criminal prosecution or civil liability if the loan was obtained through fraud. The forgiveness process is administrative—the lender or SBA reviews your forgiveness application, verifies (to the extent there able) that you spent the funds on qualifying expenses, and approves forgiveness. That process doesn’t involve a determination about whether the ORIGINAL loan application was fraudulent. So you can have a fully forgiven PPP loan and still be prosecuted for lying on the initial application.
In fact, forgiveness sometimes TRIGGERS investigation. When lenders and the SBA review forgiveness applications, they sometimes notice discrepancies—the payroll numbers on the forgiveness application don’t match the original loan application, the business information has changed, the documentation doesn’t support the claimed expenses. Those red flags get reported to the SBA Office of Inspector General, which investigates and refers cases to federal prosecutors. So defendants who thought forgiveness meant there were “in the clear” are shocked when investigators show up two years later asking about the original application.
Forgiveness also doesn’t stop the statute of limitations from running. If you got a PPP loan in June 2020 and it was forgiven in December 2020, the 10-year statute runs from June 2020 (when the fraudulent application was submitted), not from December 2020 (when forgiveness was granted). So prosecutors have until June 2030 to charge you, regardless of when forgiveness happened. The forgiveness is legally irrelevant to the criminal case—it might come up as evidence (showing you continued the fraud by submitting a false forgiveness application), but it doesn’t affect the statute of limitations or the government’s ability to prosecute.
Some defendants argue that forgiveness constitutes reliance by the government on there representations, making it unfair to prosecute them later. That argument doesn’t work. The government’s decision to forgive a loan is administrative and doesn’t constitute a waiver of criminal prosecution rights. The SBA employees and bank officials who reviewed forgiveness applications aren’t prosecutors and don’t have authority to grant immunity from prosecution. The only way to get protection from prosecution is through a formal non-prosecution agreement or immunity order from the Department of Justice, which essentially never happens unless your cooperating as a witness against others.
What Happens If the Statute of Limitations Expires Before I’m Charged?
If the 10-year statute of limitations expires without an indictment being returned, you can’t be prosecuted for that offense. The statute of limitations is jurisdictional—if it’s expired, courts don’t have authority to hear the case, and any charges filed after the deadline must be dismissed. So if you committed PPP fraud on July 1, 2020, and prosecutors don’t indict you by July 1, 2030, your safe from criminal prosecution for that offense.
The key date is when the INDICTMENT is returned, not when your arrested or when trial happens. As long as the grand jury returns an indictment before the statute expires, the case can proceed even if your not arrested until after the deadline. So prosecutors sometimes obtain “sealed indictments” near the end of the limitations period—the grand jury returns the indictment before the deadline, it’s sealed (kept secret from the defendant and the public), and then it’s unsealed later when the defendant is located and arrested. This is common in cases where defendants have left the jurisdiction or where prosecutors want to coordinate arrests of multiple defendants.
There’s a concept called the “continuing offense doctrine” that can extend the limitations period in some situations. If the fraud was ongoing—you submitted multiple false documents over time, made false statements in forgiveness applications, or otherwise engaged in fraudulent conduct beyond the initial loan application—prosecutors might argue the statute doesn’t start until the LAST fraudulent act. So if you got a PPP loan in May 2020 through a fraudulent application, then submitted a false forgiveness application in October 2020, then made false statements to the SBA during an audit in March 2021, prosecutors might argue the statute runs from March 2021 (until March 2031) because that was part of a continuing fraudulent scheme.
The continuing offense doctrine is limited. It doesn’t apply to truly separate offenses—if you committed PPP fraud in 2020 and completely unrelated EIDL fraud in 2021, those are two separate offenses with separate limitations periods. And some courts have held that fraud is “complete” when the false statements are made to obtain the loan, so subsequent acts don’t extend the statute. But prosecutors push the boundaries, and defendants sometimes have to litigate statute of limitations defenses if charges are brought near the deadline.
Can the Government Extend the Statute of Limitations Again?
Theoretically, yes—Congress has the power to extend statutes of limitations as long as the original period hasn’t yet expired. But as a practical matter, further extensions seem unlikely. The 2022 extension to 10 years was already controversial, and it brought PPP and EIDL fraud in line with bank fraud (which has had a 10-year statute for decades). Another extension would face political opposition and potential constitutional challenges under ex post facto principles, particularly if it was done very close to when existing statutes were about to expire.
The ex post facto clause of the Constitution prohibits laws that retroactively increase punishment for crimes or make it easier to convict defendants. Extending statutes of limitations has generally been held NOT to violate ex post facto as long as the original period hasn’t expired yet. The reasoning is that defendants have no “vested right” in the expiration of the statute until it actually expires—if the government extends it before the deadline, that’s permissible. But if the statute has already run, Congress can’t revive it. So if prosecutors fail to indict someone by the July 2030 deadline for July 2020 fraud, Congress couldn’t pass a law in August 2030 reviving the statute—that would violate ex post facto.
There’s also a practical consideration: 10 years is a very long time for statute of limitations purposes. Most federal offenses have 5-year limits. Some serious crimes like terrorism and murder have no statute of limitations. But 10 years is toward the high end for fraud offenses, and further extensions would raise questions about fairness, the ability to mount a defense with stale evidence, and whether prosecutors are being given too much time. The 2022 extension was justified as necessary to investigate complex cases and bring fraudsters to justice, but it’s hard to argue that 10 years isn’t enough time.
What’s more likely than another extension is that prosecutors will make sure to indict cases before the deadlines. As we approach 2029-2030 (when the first wave of 2020 PPP fraud statutes expire), expect to see a flurry of indictments as prosecutors charge cases there still investigating to avoid losing them to the statute. This happened in 2024-2025 with certain financial fraud cases where statutes were about to run—prosecutors rushed to indict before the deadlines, sometimes with bare-bones charging documents and minimal investigation, just to preserve jurisdiction. The same will likely happen with PPP fraud as we get close to the 10-year marks.
How Long Should I Keep My PPP and EIDL Records?
AT LEAST 10 years from the date of the loan, and arguably longer. The SBA’s regulations require borrowers to maintain PPP and EIDL loan records for 6 years, but given the 10-year statute of limitations for criminal and civil enforcement, you should keep everything for the full 10 years at minimum. That includes the original loan application and all supporting documents, records of how the funds were used (payroll reports, rent/mortgage statements, utility bills, invoices), the forgiveness application and supporting documents, correspondence with the lender and SBA, and any other documentation related to the loan.
If your under investigation or have reason to believe your conduct might be scrutinized, keep the records indefinitely. Even after the 10-year criminal and civil statutes expire, there could be collateral consequences—employment background checks, professional license applications, civil lawsuits from business partners or investors—where the PPP loan might come up. Having contemporaneous records showing your application was legitimate or your spending was appropriate is your defense.
The records should be in their original form to the extent possible. Prosecutors and investigators are skeptical of documents that are “recreated” years after the fact. If you tell investigators “I spent the PPP money on payroll” but you don’t have any payroll records and you can’t produce cancelled checks or bank statements showing payments to employees, they’ll assume the spending was fraudulent and the records never existed. If you have the original payroll register, tax forms, bank statements, and cancelled checks, you can prove the spending was legitimate.
Don’t destroy records thinking it’ll hide evidence of fraud. Destruction of records after you know there’s an investigation or after you’ve been contacted by law enforcement is obstruction of justice, which carries separate criminal penalties. Even destroying records BEFORE an investigation can be problematic if prosecutors later prove you did it with knowledge that your conduct might be scrutinized. The SBA and federal agencies have broad subpoena authority, and if you can’t produce records you were required to maintain, that’s evidence of fraud or obstruction.
Many defendants wish they’d kept better records in 2020-2021 when the loans were distributed. The application processes were rushed, lenders had limited time to verify information, and many borrowers didn’t think about documenting everything because they assumed forgiveness would be automatic. Now, years later, there trying to reconstruct what happened—”I think I used the money for payroll, but I don’t have records showing exactly who I paid or when.” That vagueness is a huge problem if prosecutors come knocking. The lesson: if you received PPP or EIDL funds, organize all the documentation NOW and store it securely for at least 10 years.
What If I’m Just Learning Now That My Application Had False Information?
If you genuinely didn’t know your PPP or EIDL application contained false statements—maybe a loan preparer filled it out for you, maybe your accountant provided numbers that turned out to be wrong, maybe you relied on someone else’s advice—your option is usually to consult with a federal criminal defense attorney BEFORE investigators contact you. Depending on the circumstances, voluntary disclosure might be an option, though it’s not guaranteed to prevent prosecution.
Voluntary disclosure involves contacting the government (usually through an attorney) and proactively reporting the issue, explaining what happened, offering to return the funds, and cooperating with any investigation. The DOJ and SBA have encouraged voluntary disclosure, but there not offering formal immunity or guaranteed non-prosecution. The benefit is that voluntary disclosure demonstrates lack of criminal intent—if you immediately report an error upon discovering it and pay the money back, that’s evidence you didn’t intend to defraud anyone. The risk is that voluntary disclosure puts you on the government’s radar when you might otherwise never have been investigated.
Whether voluntary disclosure makes sense depends on the facts. If your application had minor errors that didn’t affect your eligibility or the loan amount, voluntary disclosure might not be necessary. If your application had major false statements that resulted in a substantial loan you weren’t entitled to, voluntary disclosure might reduce the risk of prosecution but it also might TRIGGER investigation. An experienced attorney can assess the specific situation and advise whether disclosure, repayment without disclosure, or doing nothing is the strategy.
What you should NOT do is ignore the problem and hope it goes away. If your application had false information and you did nothing wrong (your accountant made the error, the loan preparer inflated numbers without your knowledge), you need to be able to PROVE that if investigators come calling. Waiting until your interviewed by FBI agents to say “my accountant did it, I didn’t know” is less credible than having contemporaneous evidence that you relied on the accountant and had no reason to know the numbers were wrong. If you discover an issue now, document how you discovered it, what you did in response, and preserve any evidence showing you acted in good faith.
If your contacted by investigators—you receive a grand jury subpoena, an FBI agent shows up at your door, or you get a target letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office—DO NOT talk to them without an attorney. Anything you say will be used against you, and even truthful statements can be twisted or misinterpreted. The right to remain silent applies to pre-arrest interviews, and you should exercise it. Tell investigators “I want to consult with an attorney before answering questions,” get contact information from the agent, and immediately call a federal criminal defense lawyer. The 10-year statute of limitations means there’s still time for them to investigate and bring charges, so take the contact seriously.
Will PPP Fraud Prosecutions Continue After 2030?
For loans obtained before the statute of limitations expires, yes—cases will be prosecuted through the mid-2030s even though the loans were made in 2020-2022. Federal criminal cases take time. If prosecutors indict someone in 2029 for 2020 fraud (just before the statute expires), that case might not go to trial until 2030 or 2031. Sentencings could happen in 2031-2032. Appeals could extend into 2033-2034. So even though the loan program ended years ago, the criminal consequences will stretch well into the next decade.
The intensity of prosecutions might decline over time. In 2022-2024, pandemic fraud was a major DOJ priority—press releases, task forces, high-profile cases. By 2028-2030, there will be other priorities, new crises, different political leadership. Resources might shift to other types of cases. But that doesn’t mean prosecutors will stop entirely—there’s too much political pressure, too much money stolen, too many egregious cases to just let it go. Large-dollar frauds, organized schemes, and cases involving identity theft or particularly sympathetic victims will continue to be prosecuted as long as the statute allows.
There’s also the question of what happens AFTER the criminal statute expires. Civil statutes run for 10 years in most cases (sometimes longer under the FCA’s discovery rule), so civil lawsuits could continue into the 2030s even for conduct from 2020. Administrative actions by the SBA—audits, demands for repayment, debarment—can continue for 6 years after forgiveness or longer if there’s fraud. And restitution orders from criminal cases remain enforceable indefinitely—if your convicted of PPP fraud in 2029 and owe $100,000 in restitution, that obligation follows you for the rest of your life, long after the statute of limitations has expired for anyone else who committed similar conduct but wasn’t caught.
The bottom line is that if you committed PPP or EIDL fraud, the 10-year statute of limitations means your exposure continues until 2030-2032 at minimum. The government is actively investigating and prosecuting cases, and there’s no indication there slowing down. If your contacted by investigators or if you have reason to believe your conduct might be scrutinized, talk to a federal criminal defense attorney immediately. The decisions you make NOW—whether to cooperate, how to respond to inquiries, whether to pay back funds, how to preserve evidence—can affect the outcome if charges are eventually brought.
We represent clients in PPP and EIDL fraud investigations and prosecutions throughout California and the federal system. Whether your responding to a grand jury subpoena, dealing with an SBA audit, negotiating with prosecutors, or defending against charges, we can help. The 10-year statute of limitations means there’s time for the government to build a case, but there’s also time for you to prepare a defense, present mitigation, and fight for the possible outcome. Call us for a consultation.