Victor Kensington Colbert Jr.
Introduction
Victor Kensington Colbert Jr. is the former head of the Oklahoma Heartland Heroes Foundation, a non-profit organization he ran from 2018 until 2022. On 28 October 2026, a federal jury in Tulsa convicted him of two counts of bank fraud for fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan applications. According to the release, during the Covid-19 pandemic Colbert applied for and received several pandemic-related loans, including two Paycheck Protection Program loans and one Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance totaling $217,490. The verdict followed trial testimony from several foundation employees, who told the jury Colbert never paid them. With the jury’s verdict returned but no sentencing date yet set, his case now moves to its next phase.
Background Information
Per the release, Colbert led the Oklahoma Heartland Heroes Foundation from 2018 until 2022. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, he applied for and received several pandemic-related loans: two Paycheck Protection Program loans and one Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance, together totaling $217,490. The Paycheck Protection Program loan application documents were submitted to Tulsa Federal Credit Union, and Colbert received a total of $217,490. The government’s case turned on what stood behind those applications: prosecutors said Colbert submitted fraudulent and unfiled tax documents claiming the foundation paid payroll taxes on employee salaries, while several foundation employees testified he never paid them, either before or after the funds arrived.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted. A federal jury in Tulsa convicted Victor Kensington Colbert Jr. of two counts of bank fraud for fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan applications; sentencing has not yet been set.
The verdict was announced on 28 October 2026, capping a case built around pandemic-relief lending. According to the release, during the Covid-19 pandemic Colbert applied for and received several pandemic-related loans, including two Paycheck Protection Program loans and one Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance totaling $217,490. He submitted the Paycheck Protection Program loan application documents to Tulsa Federal Credit Union and received a total of $217,490 — money intended, in the program’s design, to carry organizations through a national crisis. The two counts of bank fraud on which the jury convicted him rested on those fraudulent applications.
The trial put the foundation’s own payroll at the center of the case. Several Oklahoma Heartland Heroes Foundation employees testified that Colbert never paid them, either before or after he received the funds — testimony that cut directly against the picture of salaries and payroll taxes the loan paperwork had described. The foundation’s staff, in other words, were the people the applications claimed to support, and they told the jury the support never came.
Prosecutors said Colbert also submitted fraudulent and unfiled tax documents claiming Oklahoma Heartland Heroes Foundation paid payroll taxes on those salaries, filings offered in support of the loans. Taken together — loans received, salaries testified to as never paid, and tax documents the release describes as fraudulent and unfiled — that evidence carried the jury to convictions on both bank fraud counts.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The documented response has been institutional. U.S. Attorney Christopher Nassar said, “Colbert exploited a program intended to provide economic relief during a national crisis. His actions undermine the integrity of these relief programs and represent a serious abuse of public trust.” John T. Perez, Special Agent in Charge, Headquarters Operations, Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, said, “This conviction sends a clear message that those who defraud the federal government of pandemic relief funds will be held accountable and brought to justice for their actions,” adding, “We thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their efforts that led to this result.” Assistant United States Attorneys Thomas Buscemi and Charles Greenough prosecuted the matter, and the case was investigated by the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Current Status
Colbert stands convicted of two counts of bank fraud, and the release states that no sentencing date has been set. The jury’s verdict resolves guilt on the two counts, but the consequences remain open until sentencing. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Thomas Buscemi and Charles Greenough and investigated by the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. No docket number, restitution amount, or hearing date appears in the release. What sits at the center of the case is concrete: the $217,490 Colbert received through fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program applications, the sum the sentencing process will now take up.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Colbert’s public identity was leadership of the Oklahoma Heartland Heroes Foundation, the non-profit he ran from 2018 until 2022, and it is that role — and the pandemic-relief applications submitted in its name — that the bank fraud conviction now defines. A federal jury has found that he defrauded a program built to help organizations survive the Covid-19 pandemic, and the trial testimony placed the harm with the foundation’s own employees, who said they were never paid. The conviction makes him a federally adjudicated fraud offender, with sentencing still ahead. Officials framed the verdict as a broader warning, with Perez saying those who defraud the government of pandemic relief funds will be held “accountable and brought to justice for their actions.”
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Oklahoma, “Non-Profit Leader Convicted of Bank Fraud for False Statements in Applications for Paycheck Protection Program Loans” — source