St. Louis County Tax Preparer Admits $1.2 Million in Pandemic Fraud

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri

ST. LOUIS – A tax preparer from St. Louis County on Thursday admitted fraudulently obtaining a total of least $1.2 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans for herself and others from 2020 to 2021.

Nacole M. Taylor, 43, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and one count of engaging in an unlawful monetary transaction.

Taylor submitted at least 15 fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of eight corporations registered with Missouri for which she was the registered agent. Only two, Accurate Tax LLC and 4th Generation Home Care Services LLC, had any income. Taylor created the other businesses and opened bank accounts for them for the sole purpose of applying for PPP loans. She submitted fraudulent applications with inflated payroll and income figures and fraudulent tax forms purporting to have been prepared by Accurate Tax. Taylor obtained approximately $255,114 in PPP loans. Taylor then submitted applications for loan forgiveness for many of the loans, falsely claiming that she’d spent the loan money on payroll. Taylor spent the PPP loan proceeds on personal expenses, including luxury items from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Vincent’s Jewelers, Fendi and Nordstrom.

Taylor also recruited others, including clients of Accurate Tax, to allow her to submit fraudulent applications for PPP and EIDL loans in their names in exchange for kickbacks. Taylor and her co-conspirators either used a pre-existing business or created a fictitious business to apply for the loans. She fabricated payroll and income information and supplied fraudulent tax forms to bolster the applications. In all, Taylor submitted at least 24 fraudulent applications and obtained at least $986,659 in loans for coconspirators. She was paid at least $152,205 in kickbacks.

Taylor, of Breckenridge Hills, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9. Wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and the unlawful monetary transaction charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. She will be ordered to repay the money.

IRS – Criminal Investigation and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.