A promotional products distributor from Utah already accused of a COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) scam is now facing additional criminal charges after he allegedly lied to obtain coronavirus-related business relief loans from the federal government, then spent a chunk of the money on a new truck. 

John Anthony Taylor of Park City has been newly indicted on one count of money laundering and two counts of making a false statement on a loan or credit application.

John Anthony Taylor

Federal authorities have identified Taylor as the owner of 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.

In the new indictment made public March 16, authorities allege that Taylor lied 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 the application for the EIDL loan, Taylor allegedly confirmed that he had never been convicted, plead guilty, plead nolo contendere, been placed on pretrial diversion, or been placed on any form of parole or probation (including probation before judgment), when in fact he had previously entered pleas in abeyance for prior criminal conduct, according to the indictment.

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, federal authorities had charged him with wire fraud in April 2020 and he was on pretrial probation.

Once Taylor had fraudulently obtained the government funds, he transferred about $23,000 to his Positive Marketing business bank account, authorities say. He spent nearly all of that sum – $22,007, court papers state – on a 2014 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.

Authorities say that Taylor was booked into Weber County Jail on March 10. His next court appearance is scheduled for Monday, March 21.

In the earlier case, federal prosecutors charged Taylor with wire fraud in 2020 for an alleged scam involving PPE at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to authorities, Taylor claimed to have access to millions of N95 respirator masks from 3M when he did not have the masks or such access.

Not an authorized 3M dealer, Taylor made false representations, including emailing a fake purchase order from 3M and attempting to execute a bogus mask sale with an undercover FBI agent, authorities allege. 3M is parent company of Top 40 promotional products supplier 3M/Promotional Markets (asi/91240).

Taylor has previously told ASI Media that he has not done anything illegal. “It’s a complete misunderstanding,” he said of the fraud case from 2020.