A St. Louis County tax preparer pleaded guilty Thursday to fraudulently obtaining at least $1.2 million in federal pandemic relief loans for herself and others during 2020 and 2021.
Nacole M. Taylor, 43, admitted to three counts of wire fraud and one count of engaging in an unlawful monetary transaction.
According to court documents, Taylor submitted a minimum of 15 fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications using eight Missouri-registered corporations where she served as the registered agent. Only two of these companies—Accurate Tax LLC and 4th Generation Home Care Services LLC—had any actual income. The remaining businesses were created solely to apply for PPP loans, with Taylor opening bank accounts for them and submitting applications containing false payroll and income information as well as fabricated tax forms. She secured about $255,114 in PPP funds through this scheme.
Taylor also sought forgiveness for many of these loans by falsely claiming the money was used for payroll expenses. Instead, prosecutors say she spent the proceeds on personal items from high-end retailers such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Vincent’s Jewelers, Fendi, and Nordstrom.
In addition to her own applications, Taylor recruited others—including clients of Accurate Tax—to participate in similar schemes in exchange for kickbacks. Working with co-conspirators, she used either real or fictitious businesses to apply for additional PPP and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), again using false financial information and fake tax documents. Through these efforts, she submitted at least 24 fraudulent loan applications on behalf of others and obtained more than $986,000 in relief funds for them. Taylor personally received at least $152,205 in kickbacks from these transactions.
Taylor resides in Breckenridge Hills and is scheduled for sentencing on June 9. The wire fraud charges each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; the unlawful monetary transaction charge carries up to 10 years. Restitution will also be ordered.
The investigation was conducted by IRS – Criminal Investigation and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is handling the prosecution.
