Miss Cameroon 2020 Audrey Monkam’s husband sentenced to 20 months over US COVID loan fraud

Kingsley Tazinya, popularly known as “Don Pacto”, obtained nearly $250,000 after falsely claiming that his business had 13 employees, US prosecutors said. His wife, Audrey Monkam, has not been accused of involvement in the offence.

Kingsley Tazinya, a Cameroonian businessman based in Oklahoma City, has been sentenced to 20 months in a United States federal prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud involving a COVID-19 relief loan.

The 40-year-old, who is widely known as “Don Pacto”, is married to Audrey Monkam, winner of the Miss Cameroon 2020 beauty pageant.

Monkam’s public profile and the couple’s widely publicised engagement and wedding have drawn greater attention to the case. However, neither the US Department of Justice announcement nor the public federal court record reviewed by MMI News accuses her of participating in the fraud.

According to the Department of Justice, Tazinya submitted a fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program application to MidFirst Bank in May 2020.

The application falsely stated that his business had 13 employees and an average monthly payroll exceeding $99,000. Based on those representations, he obtained approximately $249,600, which was transferred into a bank account under his control.

The Paycheck Protection Program was created to help businesses retain employees and meet payroll and other eligible costs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tazinya pleaded guilty to bank fraud and was sentenced to 20 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The court also ordered him to pay $564,500 in restitution.

The official US Small Business Administration database records a $249,600 loan issued by MidFirst Bank to The Ke-Eh Brothers, Inc., with 13 jobs reported on the application. Prosecutors later said the employee and payroll information was false.

Claims circulating online

Some social media posts have described the loan as money intended to “pay off 13 workers”. That description is inaccurate because prosecutors said the 13 employees were falsely declared.

Claims that the bank later discovered Tazinya had spent the money on personal expenses are also not contained in the Justice Department’s account of his case.

The same Justice Department announcement covers four separate defendants. Its reference to COVID relief money being used for personal expenses concerns another defendant, Olabode Nurudeen Jimoh. The paragraph concerning Tazinya states only that the $249,600 was transferred into an account he controlled.

It is therefore unclear from the public announcement how Tazinya spent the money.

The claim that he must repay “double” the loan within three years is also misleading. The restitution order of $564,500 is about 2.26 times the $249,600 loan, but the Justice Department did not explain how the court calculated that figure.

It also did not state that the entire amount must be paid within three years. The three-year period mentioned in the sentence concerns his supervised release after prison.

Why Audrey Monkam is being mentioned

Monkam was crowned Miss Cameroon 2020 on December 28, 2019. She and Tazinya became engaged and married in 2024, almost four years after the fraudulent loan application.

Their marriage makes the case of wider public interest because Monkam is a recognised public figure and the couple has shared aspects of their relationship publicly.

However, the timing of their relationship, their engagement celebrations and Monkam’s public messages supporting her husband do not establish that she knew about or participated in the fraud.

The federal case, United States v. Tazinya, concerns Kingsley Tazinya. The public prosecution and court records reviewed by MMI News contain no allegation linking the former Miss Cameroon, Audrey Monkam to the fraudulent application, the loan proceeds or the offence for which her husband was sentenced.

MMI News