Las Vegas race car driver, who was subject of murder for hire, accused of stealing nearly $1M in COVID money

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas race car driver, who was the target of a murder-for-hire plot last year, faces theft and money laundering charges after he allegedly stole more than $1 million in COVID-related government loans, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.

Jeffrey Schildmeyer, who builds and services race cars – and races them, according to online records — faces charges of theft, money laundering and perjury, documents said. A Metro SWAT unit arrested Schildmeyer on Wednesday, Sept. 6.

In January 2022, Metro police responded to a call for a robbery with a deadly weapon at Jeffrey Schildmeyer Racing, documents said. During the call for service, Schildmeyer provided police with his phone number and home address.

While investigating the robbery call, a financial intelligence analyst noted five businesses tied to Schildmeyer’s home address, documents said. All five businesses “obtained $150,000 loans from the [Small Business Administration] under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program in August and September of 2020,” police said.

The federal loan program “was designed to provide economic relief to businesses that experienced a temporary loss of revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic,” police said.

“An initial review of these businesses revealed a nonexistent public-facing and internet footprint for these entitles,” police wrote in court documents. “As such, suspicions regarding the authenticity of the businesses were called into question as most businesses commonly have a public-facing or internet footprint for sales and marketing purposes.”

Investigators learned Schildmeyer allegedly made nine loan applications under nine business names, documents said. Each application includes Schildmeyer’s name, phone number and home address, among other identifiable information.

The loan documentation revealed the five loans Metro detectives uncovered, plus funds for four additional businesses, documents said. While police mention the nine loan applications, the charges related to Schildmeyer focus on six businesses. Each business received $150,000 in loans under the guise they have between one and 10 employees each, police said.

All six businesses “were organized or incorporated within one month of the loan application dates,” police said. Not one appeared “to have any operations or business activity associated with them, yet Schildmeyer identified each business earned more than $300,000 gross revenue in the twelve months prior to Jan. 31, 2020,” police said.

Detectives later found five of Schildmeyer’s bank accounts were opened on the same day and all “less than 24 hours before each [loan] application being initiative online,” documents said.

“[The detective] discovered five of the applications were all commenced within 18 minutes of each other,” police said.

Police accuse Schildmeyer of money laundering as he allegedly transferred the loan money between the six applicant businesses and a seventh company in at least three dozen instances, documents said.

In all, police allege Schildmeyer obtained more than $900,000 in government money meant to help businesses struggling during the pandemic, documents said.

In July, Arutyun Akopikyan, 43, pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and solicitation to commit murder for the 2022 incident at Schildmeyer’s racing business and in the money after, records said. Akopikyan knew Schildmeyer for several years, though Schildmeyer told a grand jury he did not know what the dispute was about.

During the grand jury hearing, an inmate who met Akopikyan at the Clark County jail said Akopikyan propositioned paying him to kill Schildmeyer, transcripts said. Akopikyan also sent the inmate photos of Schildmeyer, his family and his address, the inmate told the grand jury.

“He actually wanted me to kidnap Jeff,” the inmate told the grand jury, according to documents. “The reason I had to kidnap Jeff was because they needed Jeff to open the phone instead of me just killing him. He wanted Jeff killed, that was the whole thing, to kill him, but the only way we can get the money was to kidnap him and get his phone.”

During a preliminary hearing in the criminal case, Schildmeyer told the court his shop builds race cars and “[facilities] race needs,” documents said. He described the case involving Akopikyan as a “murder for hire” in grand jury transcripts.

Schildmeyer posted bond and was due to return to court in October. No attorney was listed in his case.

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