News July 22, 2022
Promo Distributor Pleads Guilty to Federal Criminal Charge
John Anthony Taylor was facing charges tied to accusations of a PPE scam and lying to illicitly obtain government COVID business relief loans.
A promotional products distributor accused of a COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) scam and also of lying to illegally obtain coronavirus-related business relief loans has pleaded guilty to a charge of making a false statement on a loan/credit application as part of a plea deal with the federal government.
Utah-based John Anthony Taylor is scheduled to be sentenced in October in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, court records state.
Prosecutors have agreed to drop a charge of wire fraud against Taylor. That count was tied to a 2020 case in which he was charged with perpetuating a PPE scam at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
The false statement charge to which Taylor has admitted guilt stems from a case filed earlier this year.
Already facing the wire fraud charge, Taylor got in more trouble with federal prosecutors in March 2022 for lying about his criminal record in order to obtain a loan of about $36,500 from the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and $15,600 from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
In applying for the PPP loan, Taylor certified that he was not “subject to an indictment, criminal information, arraignment, or other means by which formal criminal charges are brought in any jurisdiction” and was not presently on probation or parole. In reality, however, he was on pretrial probation for the 2020 wire fraud case.
Once Taylor had the government money, he allegedly spent $22,007 of it on a GMC Sierra. Such an expense is not allowed under the terms of the loans, which were designed to help keep businesses afloat amid the economic crash of the COVID-19 pandemic. The truck has been seized and authorities are reportedly selling it.
Federal authorities have identified Taylor as the owner of Utah-based Positive Marketing LLC and WasatchPromotionalProducts.com. Positive Marketing is not an ASI-listed distributor; Wasatch had been ASI-listed but was terminated prior to any of the allegations. Taylor’s LinkedIn profile also identifies him as the owner of BindersNow.com, which is not ASI-listed.