Lexington Man Sentenced for Money Laundering and Wire Fraud Involving COVID Relief Loans

FRANKFORT, Ky. – A Lexington man, John A. Hopkins, 48, was sentenced on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove to 24 months, for money laundering and wire fraud arising out of fraudulently obtained Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.

According to his plea agreement, from April 14, 2020, through October 19, 2021, Hopkins devised a scheme to fraudulently obtain funding from federal pandemic relief programs. He did this by making false statements about various companies, including Blurock LLC, John A Hopkins, Jahopm, and Hopkins Drywall, named in loan applications submitted to the United States Small Business Administration and other lenders. During this time, Hopkins submitted 10 fraudulent EIDL applications, one fraudulent EIDL modification application, and one fraudulent PPP application.

For example, on July 3, 2020, Hopkins submitted an EIDL application stating he was an independent contractor named John A. Hopkins. This application falsely and grossly inflated his revenues serving as a pastor for the 12 months prior to the start of the pandemic. As a result of this fraudulent application, the SBA approved the Hopkins’s EIDL application and issued a loan in the amount of $44,000 and a $1,000 EID advance. As to another EIDL loan, Hopkins fraudulently obtained an EIDL increase in the amount of $352,000, after sending an email containing falsehoods to two members of Congress seeking Congressional assistance in obtaining the loan increase. Through further misrepresentations, Hopkins also obtained a PPP loan in the amount of $120,000 for a business entity called Blurock LLC.

In total, Hopkins attempted to fraudulently obtain $1,729,257 in COVID relief funds, of which $517,000 was approved. After receiving the fraudulently obtained SBA funds, Hopkins engaged in numerous transactions over $10,000, using the proceeds of his deceptive conduct to pay off non-business debt, pay for his personal rent, gift money to friends, invest in cryptocurrency, and engage in gambling activities, among other things.

Under federal law, Hopkins must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 3 years. 

Paul McCaffrey, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Kelly K. Moening, Special Agent in Charge, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Great Lakes Field Division; and Karen Wingerd, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigations, Detroit Field Division, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the IRS-CI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Dieruf is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.  The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.  For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

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