Republican who backed illegal gerrymander scheme resigns over felony fraud charges: report

Utah state Rep. Trevor Lee resigned from the Legislature Monday, hours after prosecutors charged him with multiple felonies tied to an alleged scheme to fraudulently secure a home loan.

The Utah Attorney General's Office filed charges in 3rd District Court accusing Lee, 35, of second-degree felony communications fraud and mortgage fraud, along with third-degree felony forgery and possession of a forgery device, according to ABC4.

Lee represented Davis County's House District 16 as part of the Republican majority that has repeatedly pushed congressional maps courts later ruled were illegal partisan gerrymanders. He personally put out a statement attacking a state court for the ruling at the time. He was also previously outed for running a secret social media account attacking women and LGBTQ people and pushing conspiracy theories.

Prosecutors allege Lee built his loan application around paperwork that didn't hold up to scrutiny. One document, purportedly showing a six-figure salary from a Draper-based water treatment firm, was allegedly signed by Lee using the company CEO's own name, and bore little resemblance to what tax records actually showed he earned that year. A separate letter cited a lucrative sales job at another local company, though that employer maintains Lee never held anything beyond a contractor role there and had simply asked for the paperwork as a favor to strengthen his loan file; he reportedly never took the job at all.

The misrepresentations ultimately allowed Lee to pull hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity out of his newly built Layton home through a refinance, say investigators. The case came to light after a business executive told authorities Lee had separately asked him for tens of thousands of dollars in advance payments to make his finances look stronger, allegedly dangling the promise of help landing a military contract at Hill Air Force Base in return.

Lee reportedly denied any wrongdoing when investigators first raised the allegations with him at the Capitol earlier this year, though he's since been accused of walking that denial back and acknowledging he'd forged the signature in question.

Ironically, mere months ago Lee posted an image of himself sporting a hoodie from right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley as part of his crusade against fraud.

Lee had already lost his Republican primary earlier this year and was set to leave office in January regardless. The Davis County Republican Party will now hold a special election to fill the remainder of his term. The charges against Lee remain allegations, and he has not been convicted of any crime.