Jan 7 (Reuters) - A unit of KeyCorp ( KEY ) will pay

$7.77 million to resolve ‌allegations it violated the ​federal

False Claims Act by ‍submitting fraudulent loans ⁠from ⁠the

Paycheck Protection program for ‌forgiveness, the ​U.S. Attorney's

office in New Jersey said ⁠on Wednesday.

The ‍settlement ​with KeyBank resolves claims related to a

branch ‍manager accused of recruiting business owners to submit

loan applications that falsely represented ​their ‍payroll

expenses and how many people they ​employed.

KeyBank awarded the manager incentive pay for opening

accounts for those owners prior to uncovering ​the scheme, the

U.S. Attorney's office said.