A Lexington resident, John A. Hopkins, 48, has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for money laundering and wire fraud related to fraudulent applications for COVID-19 relief loans. U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove handed down the sentence on Tuesday.
According to court documents, Hopkins carried out a scheme between April 2020 and October 2021 to secure funds from federal pandemic relief programs by submitting false information about several companies—Blurock LLC, John A Hopkins, Jahopm, and Hopkins Drywall—to the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) and other lenders. The fraudulent activity included ten EIDL applications, one EIDL modification application, and one PPP loan application.
On July 3, 2020, Hopkins applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) as an independent contractor named John A. Hopkins. The application falsely inflated his income as a pastor in the year before the pandemic began. This led the SBA to approve a $44,000 loan and a $1,000 advance. In another instance, he obtained an EIDL increase of $352,000 after sending misleading information to two members of Congress requesting assistance with the loan increase. He also received a $120,000 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for Blurock LLC through further misrepresentations.
Overall, Hopkins attempted to obtain more than $1.7 million in COVID-19 relief funds; authorities approved $517,000 of that amount. After receiving these funds under false pretenses, he used them for personal expenses such as paying off non-business debt, rent payments, gifts to friends, investments in cryptocurrency, and gambling.
Federal law requires that Hopkins serve at least 85 percent of his prison term before being eligible for release. Upon completion of his sentence, he will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years.
Paul McCaffrey, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Kelly K. Moening of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration; and Karen Wingerd of IRS-Criminal Investigations jointly announced the sentencing.
The investigation was conducted by agents from TIGTA and IRS-CI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Dieruf prosecuted the case.
The Department of Justice created the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force in May 2021 to strengthen efforts against pandemic-related fraud across government agencies by improving coordination and sharing investigative resources (https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus).
Members of the public who have information about suspected COVID-19 fraud can contact authorities via phone or online form (https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form).
