A Lexington resident, John A. Hopkins, 48, has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for money laundering and wire fraud related to the fraudulent acquisition of COVID-19 relief funds. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove.
Court documents show that between April 14, 2020, and October 19, 2021, Hopkins carried out a scheme to obtain funds from federal pandemic relief programs through false statements on loan applications. He applied for loans using company names such as Blurock LLC, John A Hopkins, Jahopm, and Hopkins Drywall. During this period, he submitted ten fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications, one EIDL modification application, and one Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) application.
On July 3, 2020, Hopkins claimed to be an independent contractor with significantly inflated revenues as a pastor in his EIDL application. This led to the approval of a $44,000 loan and a $1,000 advance from the Small Business Administration (SBA). In another instance, he secured an EIDL increase of $352,000 after emailing two members of Congress with false information to request assistance with the loan process. Additionally, he received a PPP loan of $120,000 for Blurock LLC through further misrepresentations.
Hopkins sought to obtain over $1.7 million in COVID relief funds; approximately $517,000 was approved. After receiving these funds under false pretenses from the SBA, Hopkins conducted multiple transactions exceeding $10,000 each. He used the proceeds to pay off personal debts not related to business activities, cover his rent expenses, give gifts to friends, invest in cryptocurrency markets, and participate in gambling.
Federal law requires that Hopkins serve at least 85 percent of his prison term before becoming eligible for release. Following his incarceration, 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 case was investigated by agents from both the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and IRS-Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Dieruf is handling prosecution duties.
The Department of Justice created the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force on May 17, 2021 to improve efforts against pandemic-related fraud by coordinating resources across government agencies and enhancing investigative techniques. More details about these initiatives are available at https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
Individuals who have information regarding suspected COVID-19 fraud can contact authorities via the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline or file complaints online at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
