On August 14, 2026, federal prosecutors announced the arrest of Brian Depena, the Mayor of Lawrence, Massachusetts, on charges of wire fraud and money laundering. Depena, who was first elected mayor in November 2021 and reelected in November 2025, is accused of fraudulently obtaining over $1.5 million in COVID-era Economic Injury Disaster Loans (“EIDL”) through Tenares Tire Services Inc., a tire sales and automotive services business he owned in Lawrence. According to federal charging documents, Depena exploited the EIDL program—designed to provide low-interest working capital to small businesses harmed by the pandemic—to funnel loan proceeds into personal and political expenditures. In furtherance of the scheme, he allegedly laundered more than $1 million in fraudulently obtained EIDL funds by transferring them from the Tenares Tire business account into his personal accounts, often on the same day the funds were deposited.
Depena is specifically accused of using approximately $883,293 to pay off high-interest hard-money mortgages encumbering properties he owned, allegedly purchasing treasurer’s checks of $538,109.03 and $345,184.13 to satisfy those debts in December 2021. He also allegedly deposited $132,112.96 in EIDL funds to his mayoral campaign account while characterizing the payments as personal loans to the campaign and reportedly paid $85,000 to the IRS to settle personal tax debts. The Tenares Tire’s bank account allegedly held just $20.23 before one deposit, while his personal account held only $1,401 before another. According to federal prosecutors, this demonstrates how the accounts served merely as pass-throughs for the misappropriated funds. Prosecutors indicated that Depena, who allegedly made only 16 payments on the Tenares Tire EIDL, still owed approximately $1.6 million on the loan as of August 5, 2026.
USAO District of Massachusetts Press Release | Criminal Complaint