Owner of Former Internet Service Provider Indicted for Embezzling Government Broadband Funds

A federal grand jury handed down an indictment against Stephen Kromer, owner of Uprise LLC, on several counts for taking more than $7.8 million from the USDA’s ReConnect Program.

June 12, 2026

3 min read

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The United States Department of Justice announced on June 10 that a federal grand jury returned a 16-count indictment charging Stephen A. Kromer, owner of the former Internet Service Provider Uprise LLC, with multiple felonies connected to the alleged embezzlement from a federal grant project. Charges including embezzlement of government property, federal program theft, money laundering, and presenting a false document stem from Kromer’s alleged taking of more than $7.8 million from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) ReConnect program.

The Justice Department’s announcement states that court documents indicate the following.

In 2022 Uprise applied for a federal grant under the ReConnect program, proposing to build a $36-million fiber project in and around Lovelock, Nevada.
As part of the funding, Uprise agreed to contribute $9 million toward the project cost.
In 2023 the USDA awarded Uprise a $27 million grant and required Uprise to deposit its $9 million commitment into a separate financial account, called a pledged deposit account (PDA).
Kromer withdrew approximately $7.8 million from the PDA and deposited those funds into a personal account, using 32 separate wire transfers.
With each of the 32 wire transfers, Kromer falsified accounting entries within Uprise’s records, to give the appearance the funds were being used to pay for the fiber-construction project.
Kromer submitted this false information to the USDA.

He is charged with one count of theft of government property, four counts of federal program theft, five counts of money laundering, five counts of monetary transactions in criminally derived property, and one count of using a false document.

Christopher S. Delzotto, special agent in charge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Las Vegas field office, commented, “The defendant clearly exploited trust … The grants were intended to enhance broadband infrastructure in rural communities in Nevada. Instead, the defendant brazenly misappropriated these funds for personal gain.”

This federal indictment is added to Kromer’s existing state-level legal troubles related to the abandoned broadband fiber project. The $9 million deposited into the PDA were Nevada taxpayer/public funds that Uprise acquired from the state's Department of Transportation. In May 2025, the State of Nevada filed a criminal complaint against him alleging one count of theft in an amount between $25,000 and $100,000, and 30 counts of theft in an amount greater than $100,000. That complaint alleges Kromer made unauthorized money transfers for personal gain on the following days in 2024: August 26, August 27, September 3, September 4, September 5, September 6, September 9, September 12, September 16, September 24, September 30, October 9, October 10, October 11, October 15, October 17, October 21, October 25, October 28, October 28 (again), October 30, November 6, November 8, November 12, November 15, November 18, November 20, November 21, November 26, November 26 (again), November 29. The September 4 transfer was for less than $100,000; all others were for in excess of $100,000.