A pastor in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who runs a real estate investment coaching business was sentenced to 30 months for coordinating a $1.8 million Covid-19 employment fraud scam that included a real estate firm he owned.
Ricky Lee Taylor Jr., a former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball player, ran several businesses including Reap Real Estate and Property. Taylor applied for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans on behalf of these entities but provided fraudulent documentation in support of the loans.
Taylor submitted eight fraudulent applications and received approximately $1.8 million, far more than he was legally entitled to receive. Taylor then filed fraudulent personal tax returns that did not account for the income from the PPP loans.
As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, Taylor agreed to plead guilty to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud and one count of tax fraud in violation. In addition to his prison sentence, Taylor was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a money judgment of approximately $942,000 plus $2.5 million in restitution to the federal government.
Photo courtesy of Arena of Praise
