Utah businessman sent to prison for fraudulently obtaining $437K in COVID loans

A Utah businessman was sentenced to a year and a half in prison for fraudulently using almost half a million dollars of COVID-19 relief funds.

Troy Campbell, 57, of Taylorsville, pleaded guilty in May to wire fraud and money laundering. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah said he conducted a scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program and Small Business Administration.

In total, Campbell obtained $437,230 in COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program loan proceeds, which were implemented during the pandemic to aid small businesses.

Starting in July 2020 until early 2023, Campbell sought the loans on behalf of Salt IT Solutions LLC, a company he owned. In his applications, however, he misrepresented the number of employees and the monthly payroll, submitted fake tax documents and “grossl