Suspect facing sentencing in $4.8 million embezzlement pleads guilty in PPP loan scheme
A Rocklin man awaiting sentencing in a $4.8 million embezzlement scheme pleaded guilty Thursday in Sacramento federal court to making a false statement on COVID-19 paycheck protection program loans for his solar business.
Kevin Lee Co, 51, entered the plea as part of an agreement that could result in him being sentenced to a total of 10 years in federal prison.
Co appeared with his defense attorney, Candice Fields, before U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley, who set sentencing for Aug. 18.
“After many years of successful compliance on pretrial release while his original case was pending, Mr. Co checked the wrong box on his PPP application and has taken responsibility for that misstep,” Fields said after court. “He looks forward to finally resolving his entire case in the near future.”
Co has been in custody in the Sacramento County Main Jail since September, when Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Fogerty asked the court to revoke his release because of the PPP loan fraud scheme for his Rocklin-based solar company, Apollo Home Performance, court papers say.
Court documents say Co applied for a PPP loan on April 7, 2020, from J.P. Morgan bank for $252,038 but “concealed his ownership interest in Apollo” because he knew it would be denied because of his previous guilty plea. Instead, he submitted the application under his wife’s name, court papers say.
He also claimed another, unnamed person held a 90% interest in the company, submitting that person’s home address and the last four digits of their Social Security number, court documents say, and J.P. Morgan approved the loan.
In January 2021, he submitted a separate PPP loan application to Exchange Bank for $278,514 and “fraudulently concealed the fact that he had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering in the preceding 5 years,” court documents say.
At the time of the scheme, Co was awaiting sentencing on wire fraud and money laundering charges stemming from a December 2016 guilty plea to embezzling $4.8 million from Holt of California, a heavy equipment dealer where he served as controller and managed the accounting department.
“Co used the money he embezzled to purchase, among other things, luxury cars, home furniture, and NFL football and NBA basketball season tickets,” U.S. Attorney Phil Talbert’s office said at the time of that guilty plea. “In addition, Co spent approximately $1 million on player fees for an online video game.”
Co could face up to a 40-year sentence, but prosecutors agreed to recommend a 10-year sentence in total.