{"id":282513,"date":"2026-04-23T19:55:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/282513\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T19:55:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:55:18","slug":"ex-city-councilmember-sean-loloee-pleads-guilty-to-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/282513\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-city councilmember Sean Loloee pleads guilty to fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ex-Sacramento City Councilmember Sean Loloee pleads guilty to multiple fraud charges, including defrauding the IRS and COVID-19 relief funds, according to the DOJ.<\/p>\n

SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 Former Sacramento City Councilmember Sean Loloee pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges Thursday.<\/p>\n

Loloee was expected to change<\/a> his plea, court officials told ABC10 earlier this week. He pled guilty to three fraud schemes he perpetrated as the owner of Sacramento-area grocery chain Viva Supermarket.<\/p>\n

Those charges include one count of conspiracy to obstruct a Department of Labor investigation, one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS, three counts of filing false tax returns, one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, according to the United States Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

The DOJ said that between 2008 and 2020, Loloee and other conspirators were aware that employees at the supermarket chain lacked authorization to work in the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The department said he and other conspirators also took steps to dissuade the employees from complying with a Department of Labor investigation.<\/p>\n

Loloee also pleaded that he had defrauded the federal government out of $1.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds through the Small Business Administration\u2019s Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), according to the DOJ. Prosecutors said that Loloee\u2019s businesses were ineligible for this money, but he received it by underreporting gross receipts on his RRF applications. Loloee then laundered the money through a series of bank accounts.<\/p>\n

He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 15, 2026. He faces decades in prison and hundreds of thousands in fines, according to the DOJ.<\/p>\n

Loloee was elected to represent Council District 2 in 2020 but resigned<\/a> in January 2024, weeks after being indicted as part of the investigation.<\/p>\n

ABC10: Watch, Download, Read<\/p>\n


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