Trevor Lee resigns from Utah House as AG charges him with fraud 

Trevor Lee, a Republican representative from Layton and one of the most controversial figures in the Utah Legislature, has resigned after being charged with fraud on Monday. 

Lee is facing four felony charges in 3rd District Court after being accused of forging employment documents to obtain a home loan, according to court documents filed by the Utah Attorney General’s Office.

Lee said in a prepared statement sent through the House of Representatives on Monday that he was resigning because of personal reasons and did not mention the investigation.

“Due to personal circumstances that require my attention, I no longer feel I can give my constituents the time, attention, and service they deserve,” Lee said. “I will always be grateful for the people I have met, the relationships I have built, and the opportunity I have had to serve the people of Utah.”

His resignation is effective immediately and the Davis County Republican Party will hold a special election to fill the vacancy for the rest of the year, the remainder of his term. Lee, who represented House District 16 since 2023, lost his reelection bid during the June primaries, so he wasn’t returning to the Legislature next year.

“I appreciate Rep. Lee’s service and accept his resignation,” House Speaker Mike Schultz said in the statement released by the House. 

Lee didn’t respond to a request for comment about the charges on Monday, though a delivery indicator message showed he received it. He is known as one of the state’s most conservative Republican lawmakers, sponsoring unsuccessful measures this year seeking to bar immigrants from public assistance and focusing on removing legal protections for Utah’s transgender community. 

According to the investigation conducted by the Utah Attorney General’s Office, Lee had requested $93,000 in cash advances from Trent Spafford, CEO of the water treatment company Enevive, to show increased income in order to get a home mortgage. 

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“Lee said he would make Spafford ‘whole’ by securing Spafford’s company a government contract with Hill Air Force Base,” the charging documents say.

Lee indicated he was the sales director of Blue Logic, another water treatment company, with a monthly salary of $15,833 in his mortgage paperwork. He also said he worked for Enevive from July 2024 to October 2025 for a monthly salary of $13,761, attaching offer letters for both companies.

A representative from Blue Logic said the company “had made Lee an offer that Lee never accepted, that Lee asked for the letter to help obtain a home loan, that Lee was a contract employee rather than a full-time employee, and that the letter was prepared to help Lee as a friend and was not accurate,” according to the charges. 

Spafford, the CEO of Enevive, told investigators the documents attached to Lee’s mortgage application from his company were fraudulent and that his signature was forged.

After initially denying signing Spafford’s name, court documents say Lee later confirmed to prosecutors that “the Enevive employment contract was not signed by Spafford and that he had signed it.” He also acknowledged that he knew Blue Logic could not afford to pay him the salary he had indicated in the loan application.

The Enevive income Lee reported was also contradicted by his W-2, the filing says. The total wages he reported in 2024 from the company were $55,634.

Prosecutors reviewed Lee’s loan documents, which charging documents said secured him a $1 million conventional loan structured as a refinance, returning $317,190.99 in cash to Lee.

The investigation backs up claims against Lee that were publicized by Spafford and another of Lee’s former bosses, Jason Walton, president of Moxie Pest Control, just before the Davis County Republican Party Nominating Convention and calling on voters not to reelect him. Walton said at the time that when Lee worked for him in 2013, he doctored checks to boost his pay.

Lee told Utah News Dispatch of the checks in April, “This was something I did as a stupid college kid and paid my debt. I’ve gotten married and I’m now the proud father of 5 wonderful children.” He denied any improper business dealings with Spafford.

Lee is charged with one count of communications fraud and one count of mortgage fraud, both second-degree felonies carrying a possible penalty of one to 15 years in prison. He also faces one count each of forgery and possession of a forgery device, third-degree felonies with a potential penalty of up to five years in prison.

An initial court appearance had not been scheduled for Lee as of Monday evening.