FBI ARRESTS TOP DEMOCRAT – CHAOTIC SCENE ERUPTS OUTSIDE COURT
Lawrence Mayor Faces Federal Pandemic-Loan Charges—But the Case Turns on What Prosecutors Say He Did With the Money
Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña’s arrest produced almost every ingredient needed for a viral political story: a pre-dawn FBI operation, serious federal charges, a chaotic scene outside court, a minor car crash and a separate argument on social media about the mayor’s English.
But none of those side stories is what will determine the criminal case against him.
The central question is much narrower: whether federal prosecutors can prove that DePeña intentionally obtained increases to a pandemic-era business loan while making certifications about how the money would be used, then diverted portions of those funds to expenses the program did not permit.
DePeña, 61, was arrested at his Lawrence home Friday and charged by criminal complaint with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts says he fraudulently obtained more than $1.5 million through the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for Tenares Tire Services Inc., the tire sales and automotive-service business he owned in Lawrence.
Federal prosecutors allege that portions of the money were later used to fund his mayoral campaign account, pay personal federal taxes and retire more than $880,000 in high-interest mortgages secured by properties he owned.
Those are allegations, not findings of guilt.
The criminal complaint is supported by an affidavit in which an IRS Criminal Investigation agent says there is probable cause to believe DePeña committed the offenses. That is the standard needed at this stage of the case; prosecutors would face the much higher beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard if the case ultimately went to trial.
The charging documents also provide a more precise picture of the loan than the shorthand “$1.5 million COVID loan” suggests.
DePeña’s company initially received a $150,000 EIDL in June 2020.
According to the federal affidavit, DePeña used the majority of that first $150,000 as working capital for Tenares Tire.
That detail matters because the government is not alleging that every dollar he ever received from the pandemic program was immediately diverted for personal or political use.
The alleged conduct becomes more significant in 2021, when prosecutors say DePeña was under financial pressure.
According to the complaint, his mayoral campaign was struggling to pay bills, he had outstanding personal federal tax liabilities and he owed almost $900,000 to two private lenders whose loans were secured by Lawrence properties he owned.
The affidavit says those private loans carried interest rates of 12 percent and 8 percent, compared with the EIDL program’s 3.75 percent rate.
In July 2021, the SBA approved a $350,000 increase that brought the total Tenares Tire EIDL to $500,000.
Federal investigators say that when DePeña executed the amended loan documents, he certified that the proceeds would be used as working capital to alleviate economic injury caused by the pandemic and that the proceeds would not primarily be used for personal, family or household purposes.
Prosecutors allege that the money did not remain confined to that purpose.
The complaint says DePeña used $85,000 traceable to the EIDL funds to make two payments toward his personal IRS tax liabilities.
It also says approximately $90,000 traceable to the loan was directed to his 2021 mayoral campaign during September of that year.
The campaign transactions are important to the government’s theory because the SBA program was intended to provide working capital to eligible businesses suffering pandemic-related economic injury, not to finance a political campaign.
The complaint says the SBA would not have approved the loan had it known the proceeds would be used for campaign payments or personal tax obligations.
The loan then grew again.
On October 27, 2021, the SBA approved a second modification of $1,154,400, bringing the total EIDL to $1,654,400.
Again, according to the affidavit, DePeña executed documents stating that the loan proceeds would be used for permitted business purposes.
Federal investigators allege that more than $1.15 million was deposited into the Tenares Tire account in late November and then transferred into one of DePeña’s personal accounts.
The complaint says some of those funds were later directed to the campaign and $883,293 was used to pay off two high-interest loans secured by real estate DePeña owned.
One payment was approximately $538,109. The other was approximately $345,184.
Federal authorities say refinancing existing debt in that manner was a prohibited use of the EIDL proceeds and that the SBA would not have approved the loan had it known DePeña intended to use the money that way.
That sequence of certifications, transfers and payments is the core of the case.
It is also why the federal complaint matters more than the dramatic language surrounding the arrest.
“Mayor DePeña was elected to be a leader for the City of Lawrence. He was looked up to and trusted by his constituents, but he betrayed that trust through his alleged corruption and lies,” U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said after the arrest.
“Today’s arrest is just another example of our determination to root out fraud by anyone, even public officials and holding elected officials accountable,” she added.
FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks likewise accused DePeña of misusing emergency assistance that was intended to help businesses survive the pandemic.
“When elected officials misuse federal funds for personal gain, they’re breaking the trust of their constituents — and breaking the law,” Docks said.
DePeña has not admitted the allegations.
He appeared in federal court in Boston on Friday afternoon, waived a probable-cause hearing and did not enter a plea.
He was released without bond under conditions that included surrendering his passport, remaining in Massachusetts, reporting to probation and not seeking new loans without court approval.
The maximum penalties also require some care in how they are described.
The wire-fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The money-laundering charge carries a maximum of 10 years.
That is why some reports describe DePeña as facing “up to 30 years,” but those statutory maximums should not be read as a prediction of his eventual sentence or as a statement that the two maximum terms would automatically be imposed consecutively.
Any sentence would depend on a conviction, the federal sentencing statutes and guidelines, and the district judge.
DePeña was first elected mayor of Lawrence in November 2021 and won reelection in November 2025. Before becoming mayor, he served on the Lawrence City Council from 2016 to 2021.
He has indicated that he does not intend to step down while the criminal case proceeds.
Asked by Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra what message he had for Lawrence residents, DePeña responded in Spanish, “I love them, and they know I am an honest and decent man.”
Asked about remaining in office, he rejected the accusations against him.
“Of course. Anyone can be accused. People get accused of anything,” DePeña said.
“My enemies have accused me. What haven’t they made up about me?”
Those comments establish his public position: he disputes the allegations and intends to continue serving as mayor while the case is pending.
Then came the scene outside the courthouse.
Video from local television stations showed DePeña leaving federal court with his attorney, Carlos Apostle, as reporters asked questions.
The footage has sometimes been described online as showing DePeña “ramming” another vehicle or leaving the scene of a crime.
The available reporting is more specific.
DePeña was in the passenger seat of Apostle’s Dodge Challenger. Apostle was driving when the car struck a parked vehicle in front of them.
WHDH and Boston 25 reported that Apostle got out after the collision and photographed the vehicle before the pair left.
That may have made for an unusual scene outside a federal courthouse, but it is materially different from saying DePeña himself drove into another car.
And without an official police finding or separate charge establishing a hit-and-run offense, the collision should not be presented as another proven crime in the case.
A separate claim about DePeña’s language ability also spread alongside the courthouse video.
Some reports and social-media posts asserted that the Lawrence mayor “cannot speak any English.”
That statement is too categorical for the available evidence.
DePeña has previously used an interpreter in a formal hearing, and Spanish is plainly his preferred language for some public interviews.
But footage outside federal court Friday also recorded him speaking brief English phrases, including “Hi guys” and “God bless you.”
Using an interpreter in a legal proceeding, where precision can matter, is not the same thing as establishing that a person has no ability to speak English at all.
The language dispute is therefore another example of a peripheral detail becoming more absolute online than the evidence supports.
The same caution applies to the criminal case itself.
Federal prosecutors have laid out a detailed account based on SBA records, bank records, campaign-finance records, emails and text messages obtained through legal process.
They allege that DePeña made false certifications and then moved federally backed business-loan money into accounts and transactions that served personal, political and real-estate obligations.
DePeña denies wrongdoing, and the complaint itself is not a conviction.
The next stages of the federal process will determine whether prosecutors can turn the probable-cause allegations in the affidavit into charges they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
So Friday’s arrest settled one issue: the federal government is now formally accusing the sitting mayor of Lawrence of serious financial crimes tied to pandemic-relief money.
What it did not settle is whether those accusations are true.
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The courthouse collision, the comments to reporters and the argument over what language DePeña speaks may continue to generate attention.
But the legal case will turn on something less theatrical: what DePeña certified to the SBA, where the money went, what he intended when he moved it and whether prosecutors can prove that conduct violated federal law.
