LAS VEGAS, Nev. (KOLO) – A northern Nevada businessman is pleading guilty to embezzling millions of dollars from a local internet project.
The DOJ says Uprise LLC owner Stephen Kromer embezzled $7.8 million from the Lovelock Project, a federally funded project to bring high speed internet to Lovelock, into his bank account.
The DOJ says that in 2022, the USDA awarded Uprise with a $27 million federal grant to build high-speed broadband in rural Lovelock.
As a condition of receiving the grant, Uprise agreed to contribute around $9 million towards the cost of the project. They say Uprise obtained this money from the State of Nevada and deposited it into a separate financial account designated solely for the Lovelock Project.
They say that from May 2024 to November 2024, Kromer embezzled $7.4 million from the ReConnect Program by transferring the money from the designated account to his personal bank accounts he held at various crypto exchanges where the money was converted into crypto.
Kromer is now pleading guilty to one count of money laundering and will be sentenced in March. Kromer faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Copyright 2026 KOLO. All rights reserved.