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Date: April 2, 2026
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
Norfolk, VA – A Norfolk man was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison for money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions relating to the fraudulent receipt of funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
According to court records and evidence presented at trial, in May 2020, Brian Renard Manley Jr. sent an email containing information about his businesses to an individual in Georgia who created fake tax returns for the business and submitted a fraudulent PPP application. PPP was administered by the Small Business Administration to provide low-interest financing to pay up to eight weeks of payroll costs for eligible small businesses experiencing substantial financial disruption due to the pandemic.
As a result of the fraudulent PPP application, Brian Manley received $350,000, which he immediately transferred into a newly opened bank account for a different company. The next day, he forwarded an email to the same individual in Georgia from his co-defendant spouse, Lacole Manley, which contained information and data about her business. Lacole Manley later received an additional $350,000 PPP loan after a fraudulent application was submitted in her name by the same individual in Georgia. The Manleys used the PPP funds to pay for various personal expenses, including travel to Orlando and Las Vegas as well as the purchase of a luxury vehicle.
Lacole Manley is expected to be sentenced on May 19.
The IRS Criminal Investigation Washington D.C. Field Office and the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anthony C. Mozzi and Clayton D. LaForge are prosecuting the case.
IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.