Utah News Dispatch
Utah lawmaker denies claims he tried to help a company win a grant in exchange for $93K
Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, is pictured on the House floor at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on the final night of the legislative session, Friday, March 6, 2026. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
A Utah lawmaker denied allegations Wednesday that he used his position in the Legislature to try to help his former employer win a government contract in exchange for $93,000.
Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, dismissed the accusations as a “hit job to support a member of the good ole boys club” in a text message to Utah News Dispatch. In his bid for reelection, Lee faces a challenge from fellow Republican Bob Stevenson heading into the June primary.
Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz said he is looking into the claims that surfaced Wednesday, but didn’t immediately give details on the scope, timeline or who’s conducting the review.
“We are carefully reviewing the matter and will follow the appropriate process to determine the facts and any next steps,” Schultz, R-Hooper, said via a spokesperson. “Allegations of this nature involving a sitting legislator are taken seriously.”
The allegations against Lee are coming to light just before the Davis County Republican Nominating Convention, happening Saturday.
Identifying himself as Lee’s former employer, Trent Spafford, president and CEO of water research firm Enevive, said in one of two videos posted to the website stoptrevorlee.com that Lee sought the money in an effort to get a loan for construction of his home. The videos and the website urge voters not to reelect Lee.
“We were like, ‘Look, we’re not in a position to do that,’ Spafford said in his video. “He’s like, ‘Look, I guarantee you that we will get you this contract.’ And he was using his influence in the Legislature to entice us to advance him this number, this number which totaled up to $93,000.”
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Lee remembers it differently.
“I connected them with a lobbyist to try and help them secure a grant,” Lee said Wednesday via text. He said the money related to a “separate business deal we had worked out having nothing to do with federal grants. And then he accused me of false things and tried to come after me maliciously.”
Spafford said he terminated Lee’s employment. He later sued Lee, accusing him of using the company’s client list to make sales calls for a competitor. Court records show the case came to a close Wednesday after the parties agreed to dismiss it. Spafford said he decided to drop the suit because he didn’t think he’d recover any of the money he was spending on legal fees.
KSL was first to report the allegations, noting Spafford joined another past employer of Lee’s from more than a decade ago in appearing in videos on the website. Jason Walton, president of Moxie Pest Control, said Lee worked for his company in 2013 and doctored checks to boost his pay.
“This was something I did as a stupid college kid and paid my debt,” Lee told Utah News Dispatch. “I’ve gotten married and I’m now the proud father of 5 wonderful children.”
Spafford said his company never got the contract it hoped to win for a job at Hill Air Force Base and he’s speaking publicly now because he thinks voters should know.
“It seems like I shouldn’t really be talking about another fellow Republican, but the truth really needs to be revealed here,” Spafford said in the video.
Spafford told Utah News Dispatch Wednesday that Lee asked for the money in 2024. Spafford said he didn’t know that public officials are not allowed to do favors in exchange for money until a lobbyist told him last August they needed “to be very careful that we separate Trevor Lee away from this.” In the video, he now calls the alleged deal with Lee “a pay to play situation.”
Lee, elected in 2022 and representing parts of Davis County, is known as one of the state’s most conservative Republican lawmakers. He sponsored unsuccessful measures this year seeking to bar immigrants from public assistance and focusing on removing legal protections for Utah’s transgender community.
Utah’s 14 House Democrats said Thursday they’re alarmed by the allegations.
“We appreciate Speaker Schultz for taking these claims seriously and initiating a review,” the representatives said in a prepared statement. “These allegations warrant a thorough and transparent investigation, and we will be closely monitoring the process. If substantiated, Rep. Lee must be held fully accountable.”
