Nacole M. Taylor, a tax preparer from St. Louis County, has admitted in federal court that she used shell companies and bogus paperwork to tap into more than $1 million in pandemic relief funds. On Thursday, she pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in an unlawful monetary transaction and three counts of wire fraud. Sentencing is set for June 9, 2026. Prosecutors say the fraud hinged on fake payroll numbers, straw borrowers, and businesses that existed only on paper to snag Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan money.
According to KMOV, prosecutors say Taylor submitted at least 15 fraudulent PPP and EIDL applications, pulling in at least $1.2 million for herself and others. The station reports she was the registered agent for eight corporations, only two of which showed any income, and that she spun up additional businesses solely to chase loan money. Taylor then allegedly sought forgiveness on some of those loans by claiming the funds had gone to payroll. Prosecutors told KMOV that the plea covers charges tied to those applications and to related wire transfers.
Earlier coverage indicates the case started as an IRS Criminal Investigation and resulted in a July 2025 indictment featuring multiple wire fraud and money laundering counts, according to reporting by Yahoo. That reporting says court filings alleged Taylor spent some of the proceeds on luxury retail purchases while prosecutors moved to forfeit property connected to the loans.
How prosecutors say the scheme worked
Prosecutors say Taylor positioned herself as the registered agent for multiple companies, then propped up those entities with invented payroll and income figures to make them look loan-worthy. She also recruited other people to act as borrowers in name only, allegedly kicking back part of the proceeds so applications could be filed under their identities. In total, authorities told KMOV that at least 24 fraudulent applications were submitted across the PPP and EIDL programs.
Federal enforcement, local pattern
Taylor’s case lines up with a broader federal crackdown on pandemic relief fraud, a category that has repeatedly featured tax preparers and paper-only businesses as central players. In a separate example, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York detailed a January 28, 2026 guilty plea from a Long Island tax preparer involved in a nearly $12 million tax fraud scheme, underscoring how national enforcement is ramping up; see the DOJ press release. The IRS Criminal Investigation unit has likewise highlighted hefty sentences in PPP and EIDL cases to show how agents follow the money and claw back misused funds, as detailed in an IRS-CI release about a 90-month prison term for another COVID-relief fraudster.
What happens next
Taylor’s sentencing on June 9, 2026 is expected to feature arguments over restitution and forfeiture tied to the allegedly stolen relief funds. Prosecutors had already moved to seize property they say was obtained through the loans, according to Yahoo. In similar PPP and EIDL fraud cases, convictions have brought prison time alongside orders to pay back the government, and federal officials say the long tail of pandemic-relief prosecutions will keep working its way through U.S. court dockets.
