The federal indictment, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in December 2023, included allegations that Loloee hired undocumented immigrants at his Viva Supermarket stores, then underpaid them or failed to pay overtime. It also alleged Loloee lied on an application for federal COVID-19 relief funds and attempted to obstruct multiple federal investigations into the stores, including while he sat on the council.<\/p>\n
The indictment was filed about a year and a half after The Bee reported<\/a> Loloee did not live in the North Sacramento district he was elected to represent. Loloee remained on the council for over a year after that report, then resigned shortly after the indictment.<\/p>\n The indictment also confirmed The Bee\u2019s reporting that Loloee lived with his family in his wife\u2019s $1.4 million home in Granite Bay. As of Monday, he still owns the Hagginwood house and claimed a $7,000 homeowner\u2019s exemption on his 2025 tax bill.<\/p>\n After more than two years since the case began, Loloee is set to plead guilty Thursday.<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 Shahriar \u201cSean\u201d Loloee regularly hired undocumented immigrants because \u201cundocumented workers were easier to control,\u201d the indictment said.<\/p>\n \u2022 Loloee and Karla Montoya \u2014 a store manager who is also a defendant and is not a party to the plea deal \u2014 threatened workers with \u201cadverse immigration consequences\u201d if they went against Loloee.<\/p>\n \u2022 The pair required employees who did not speak English to sign untranslated documents they did not understand, then later used the contents against them.<\/p>\n \u2022 Loloee paid certain undocumented workers in cash, typically without a pay stub. He also paid certain employees via a \u201cgreen check,\u201d which could only be cashed at Western Union offices within the Viva Supermarket stores. The workers were charged a 2% surcharge to cash those checks, which went to Loloee\u2019s pocket. He did not report the green checks as wages on tax returns.<\/p>\n \u2022 At times, Loloee required employees to receive a portion of their pay as store credit.<\/p>\n \u2022 To avoid federally required overtime, Loloee moved employees to \u201csalaried\u201d positions without raises or split pay between checks and cash, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n \u2022 The U.S. Department of Labor started investigating Loloee\u2019s supermarkets in 2008, and required Loloee to pay employees about $3,496 in back wages. In 2020, weeks after Loloee was sworn into the City Council, federal officials again determined Loloee owed employees back pay, this time $35,423. Neither of those actions were known to the public. Loloee later asked the employees to return the money.<\/p>\n \u2022 In 2022, the department filed a lawsuit against Loloee, Montoya and Viva Supermarkets seeking $1.5 million in back wages, liquidated damages, and civil monetary penalties. That civil suit, first reported by The Bee, was the first time any federal government actions against the stores were public. That suit has been put on pause while the criminal case has been ongoing.<\/p>\n \u2022 To block federal officials from investigating, Loloee assigned undocumented workers to less visible areas of the store or told them to remove their uniforms while investigators were present, according to the indictment. He also had some employees impersonate federal officials to determine which workers were cooperating and paid a person to pose as a customer.<\/p>\n \u2022 To apply for federal COVID-19 relief funds, Loloee reported about $5.2 million in gross receipts for one business when actual receipts were about $7.7 million, according to federal prosecutors. He received about $1.2 million in federal relief funds as a result.<\/p>\n Loloee is scheduled to enter his plea at 9:30 a.m. Thursday before U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley in Sacramento federal court, according to court filings.<\/p>\n The change-of-plea hearing comes after Loloee initially pleaded not guilty to the charges following his 2023 indictment. Prosecutors and defense attorneys signaled last week that a deal had been reached.<\/p>\n Details of the agreement are expected to be outlined in court during Thursday\u2019s hearing, when Loloee formally admits guilt and the judge determines whether to accept the plea. It\u2019s not clear which charges he\u2019s agreed to plead to.<\/p>\n Montoya and two other defendants charged in the case are not part of the agreement and are scheduled to proceed toward a September trial.<\/p>\n This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 5:00 AM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SAC_RCB_20240322_LoloeeIndictment_0180.JPG\" "\\"SAC_RCB_20240322_LoloeeIndictment_0180.JPG\\"")
Former Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee speaks outside the Robert T. Matsui United States Courthouse in Sacramento after an arraignment on Friday, March 22, 2024. He denied what he called \u201cridiculous allegations\u201d and blamed politics for the situation. He\u2019s set to plead guilty Thursday. Ren\u00e9e C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com 10 allegations in the indictment<\/p>\n![\"Homeland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SAC_LoloeeRaid_01_HA_10252023.JPG\" "\\"SAC_LoloeeRaid_01_HA_10252023.JPG\\"")
Homeland Security Investigations officers leave the Viva Supermarket on Folsom Boulevard in Rancho Cordova in 2023, which is owned by then-Sacramento City Councilmember Sean Loloee. Loloee is set to plead guilty Thursday to federal charges alleging he underpaid undocumented workers, committed fraud and obstructed investigations tied to his Sacramento-area grocery stores. Hector Amezcua hamezcua@sacbee.com What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Clift_Theresa.JPG\")