Former Boston Official Pleads Guilty to PPP Loan Fraud
On the paperwork submitted for a pandemic loan, Reuben Taylor was a self-employed auto mechanic. On the tax return he actually filed with the IRS, he was a Boston municipal employee. Those two versions of the same year are now at the center of a federal guilty plea.
Taylor, the former director of Boston’s Municipal Protective Services, pleaded guilty Nov. 3 to one count of wire fraud. The 40-year-old obtained a $20,804 Paycheck Protection Program loan through fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 12, 2027.
Two tax returns, two different stories
Federal prosecutors say Taylor applied for the PPP loan in April 2021, claiming he had worked as an auto mechanic in 2019. To support that application, he supplied a fabricated Form 1040 and Schedule C showing no wages and $99,863 in earnings as an independent contractor.
The return he had actually sent to the IRS told a different story: $97,561 in wages as a municipal police officer, backed by a W-2 from the City of Boston.
Taylor had worked for Municipal Protective Services since 2008. Despite the job description on his return, prosecutors describe the division as an unarmed, non-sworn security operation within the city’s Property Management Department.
The case therefore turns on more than an overstated revenue figure. The loan application substituted a purported self-employed business for the municipal employment documented in his actual tax filing.
Forgiven in 2021, prosecuted in 2026
Taylor sought forgiveness in August 2021, claiming the money had covered payroll for his auto mechanic business. The Small Business Administration forgave the loan the following month.
More than five years later, the criminal case was still moving forward. Prosecutors announced the charge and an agreement to plead guilty in October 2026. The plea itself came in November, a separate step from that earlier agreement.
PPP began in April 2020 under the Trump administration to help small businesses keep workers paid during the pandemic. Its loans could be forgiven when borrowers met program requirements. Taylor’s case illustrates why that administrative forgiveness did not end scrutiny of the underlying application.
Our earlier coverage of the PPP loan fraud reckoning tracked the enforcement cases emerging from pandemic lending. This prosecution adds a much smaller loan to that continuing story.
PPP Loan Fraud Sentencing comes next
U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley will determine Taylor’s sentence. Wire fraud carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Those are legal ceilings, not a prediction of the punishment he will receive.