The former CEO of a Birmingham IT company was indicted in federal court on wire fraud, money laundering and bankruptcy fraud for allegedly defrauding customers and a COVID-19 loan program, prosecutors announced Friday.

Thomas Aaron Kane, the 44-year-old former owner and CEO of Keep Information Technology Simple, LLC — and later Keepitsimple.us — was indicted on 19 counts in federal court in Birmingham: 12 counts of wire fraud related to a scheme to defraud customers; five counts of wire fraud stemming from a scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP); one count of money laundering; and one count of bankruptcy fraud.

Between at least July 2017 and December 2021, Kane used his customer’s credit cards — which were placed on file to pay a monthly service fee and authorized expenses –to make unauthorized charges, according to then indictments.

When confronted by his customers, Kane would make up an excuse, such as claiming there was an accounting error or creating false invoices to send to customers, the charging documents stated.

Kane also allegedly engaged in a scheme to receive unauthorized funds from the COVID-19-era PPP from the U.S. Small Business Administration, according to Prim Escalona, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama and U.S. Special Agent in Charge Patrick Davis, who announced the indictments Friday.

The former tech CEO allegedly made false representations to obtain three PPP loans totaling more than $625,000.

He tried to receive two more PPP loans in the name of his second business, Keepitsimple.us., totaling more than $450,000, according to the indictments. Kane allegedly made false representations in support of those two applications and submitted false tax documents to try and get the applications approved.

The money laundering fraud charges stem from allegations Kane used $150,000 in PPP funds to repay a prior victim of the unauthorized charges scheme.

Kane allegedly committed bankruptcy fraud by withdrawing a more than $20,000 cashier’s check from a Keepitsimple.us bank account and depositing those funds into a personal bank account, even though the money was property of the business’ bankruptcy estate and were funds he was not allowed to use.

If convicted, the former CEO faces up to 20 years in prison on wire fraud, up 10 years in prison on the money laundering allegations and a maximum of five years in prison for bankruptcy fraud.