Placer County Man Sentenced for Stealing Nearly $1.5 million in COVID-Relief Loans to Fund Lavish Lifestyle

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Jedrek Upton, 45, of Lincoln, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez to one year in prison to be followed by 36 months supervised release, of which 12 months are to be spent on home detention, for wire fraud and money laundering in a scheme to steal nearly $1.5 million of COVID-relief loans, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

According to court documents, between January 2021 and May 2022, Upton repeatedly submitted fraudulent applications for COVID-19 disaster relief on behalf of businesses he owned. He falsely inflated the number of employees on payrolls and misrepresented how the funds would be used, claiming that he would spend the money to alleviate economic harm caused by the pandemic. Upton also submitted falsified IRS documents to support the applications.

In reality, several of the businesses had no employees and no payroll, and Upton spent much of the relief money on personal expenses. As a result of his misrepresentations, Upton received nearly $1.5 million in fraudulently obtained loans from the United States, a large portion of which was ultimately forgiven after Upton falsely certified that on the funds were used for payroll and legitimate business expenses. Instead, Upton used the money to support a lavish lifestyle, including paying off personal credit cards, transferring money to others, leasing a Ferrari and a Lamborghini, and making a large down payment on a $2.7 million, 10-acre property.

As part of his sentence, Upton forfeited his interest in the property, and was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 million in restitution to the United States. The IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dhruv M. Sharma and Kevin C. Khasigian prosecuted the case.