Northern NV Business Owner Pleads Guilty to Embezzling $7.8M from Broadband Project
By Warren Tennyson
Tue, October 27, 2026
A Reno business owner has pleaded guilty to laundering millions of dollars that prosecutors say were embezzled from a federally funded high-speed internet construction project near Lovelock, Nevada.
A Gavel (Getty Images)
Details of the Case
According to court documents, Stephen A. Kromer owned Uprise, LLC, a former internet service provider based in Reno. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded Uprise a $27 million federal grant to build a high-speed broadband network in rural Lovelock, about 100 miles northeast of Reno. The grant was funded through the ReConnect Program, which promotes construction of high-speed internet networks in underutilized rural areas across the United States.
As a condition of receiving the grant, Uprise agreed to contribute about $9 million toward the cost of the Lovelock project. Uprise obtained that money from the state of Nevada and deposited it into a separate financial account designated solely for the Lovelock Project and overseen by the USDA.
From May 2024 through November 2024, Kromer embezzled more than $7.8 million from the ReConnect Program by transferring money from the designated account to his personal bank account and falsely accounting for the transfers as expenditures for the Lovelock project.
The indictment alleged Kromer then laundered the embezzled money by moving the proceeds from his personal bank account into accounts he held at various cryptocurrency exchanges, where the money was converted into cryptocurrency.
Kromer pleaded guilty to one count of federal money laundering. Sentencing is scheduled for March 9, 2027, before U.S. District Judge Richard F. Boulware II. At sentencing, Kromer faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI and the USDA Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven Myhre and Skyler Pearson are prosecuting.