Sacramento ex-councilman Sean Loloee pleads guilty to federal fraud. Here are details
Former Sacramento city councilman Shahriar “Sean” Loloee pleaded guilty in Sacramento federal court Thursday to fraud and money laundering charges after admitting to obstructing Labor Department investigators and cheating on taxes tied to his Viva Supermarket stores, as well as fraudulently collecting more than $1 million in COVID relief funds.
Here are the key elements of the agreement:
Shahriar “Sean” Loloee faces a maximum of 59 years in federal prison on the seven charges against him. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 15 in Sacramento federal court.
As part of Lololee’s deal, federal prosecutors agreed to recommend a prison term at the low end of the sentencing range, according to the court filing.
The charges
- Conspiracy to obstruct agency proceedings: Loloee faked employee lists and gave false statements to Labor Department investigators probing his supermarkets in 2023.
- Conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service: Loloee maintained dual sets of books and sent paychecks — dubbed “green checks” — that could only be cashed at his supermarkets, in order to underreport payroll taxes.
- Filing false tax returns: Loloee filed false tax returns in 2018, 2019 and 2020, prosecutors alleged in the plea agreement signed by Loloee and his attorney last week.
- Money laundering and wire fraud: Prosecutors said Loloee cheated the U.S. Small Business Administration’s COVID-era Restaurant Revitalization Fund of $1.2 million in a pandemic relief fund scheme, laundering nearly $950,000 of the COVID funds through a series of trust funds, business accounts and personal accounts.
What he owes
Loloee agreed to repay $1.2 million to the U.S. Small Business Administration for defrauding the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. He must also surrender another $1 million in personal assets, and hand over personnel files containing counterfeit immigration documents seized in the October 2023 raid by federal agents, according to the terms of the plea agreement with federal prosecutors.
What he said
Loloee defended the labor practices at his stores in an interview with The Sacramento Bee following his plea and said he does not employ undocumented workers.
On the possibility of a federal prison sentence: “I’m not concerned about it. Life must go on.”
The Bee’s Theresa Clift and Sharon Bernstein contributed to this story.
.JPG)