Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña was arrested Friday morning by federal authorities on financial charges connected with pandemic-era small business loans he received, court records show.

DePeña is charged with wire fraud and money laundering, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday. Investigators say DePeña obtained several economic injury disaster loans during the COVID-19 pandemic totaling more than $1.5 million, then used the money to fund his political campaign, pay personal taxes, and pay off mortgages on several properties he owned in Lawrence.

DePeña was first elected mayor in 2021, then reelected to a second term in 2025. Before that, he served on the city council for five years.

He is set to make an initial appearance before a federal magistrate judge in U.S. District Court in Boston later Friday.

In a statement announcing the charges, U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said DePeña broke the trust of his constituents.

"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 said.

In addition to serving as mayor, DePeña owns and operates Tenares Tire Services in the city. On May 4, 2020, DePeña submitted a loan application on behalf of the business to the Small Business Administration, which approved a $150,000 loan — the maximum amount available at the time.

DePeña used "the majority" of that loan for the business, according to an affidavit filed in court to support the charges.

But by early 2021, DePeña "needed cash," IRS Special Agent Zachariah Marino wrote in the affidavit. He was facing a deadline to pay off a $525,000 loan he obtained a year earlier to buy 342 Broadway and owed $375,000 to a different lender.

For several months leading up to early 2021, DePeña tried and failed to get a conventional real estate loan to refinance his debt, according to the affidavit. In February 2021, he secured an extension of the $525,000 loan to July of that year.

Around that time, DePeña also owed federal income taxes, according to the affidavit.

In April 2021, DePeña asked the Small Business Administration to increase the initial loan for Tenares Tire. He received an additional $350,000 in July, bringing the total to $500,000 — the maximum amount available at the time.

After the loan was approved, but before the money was disbursed, DePeña sent several frantic texts to his accountant and financial advisor asking for help with the loan, saying he didn't have time to wait, according to the affidavit. During that time, DePeña got another extension of the $525,000 loan.

On Aug. 16, 2021, DePeña received the money from the new federal loan. Days later, he used the funds to make two payments to the IRS totaling $85,000 for personal taxes he owed, according to the affidavit.

Then, in September 2021, DePeña used roughly $90,000 traceable to the federal loan for his mayoral campaign, according to the affidavit.

A month later, in October 2021, not long after the federal government increased the maximum loan from $500,000 to $2 million, DePeña again submitted a request to modify his original loan, seeking $1.1 million. That brought the total he obtained through the program to $1.65 million, according to the affidavit.

When he received the money in November 2021, DePeña transferred $1.1 million from a Tenares Tire bank account to his own personal account, according to the affidavit. Investigators say he then used more than $42,000 from the loan to fund his campaign.

DePeña also used more than $883,000 traceable to the federal loans to pay off existing debts secured by real estate he owned.

As of Aug. 5, 2026, DePeña had made only 16 payments totaling roughly $130,000 toward the federal loans for Tenares Tire, according to the affidavit. All the payments were applied to interest accrued on the loan, on which he still owed $1.65 million.

Ted Docks, the special agent in charge of FBI Boston, pledged to "continue to doggedly pursue anyone who defrauds the federal government."

"This was emergency financial assistance meant to be a safety net for struggling businesses, not Mr. DePeña's own personal ATM," he said in a statement. "When elected officials misuse federal funds for personal gain, they're breaking the trust of their constituents – and breaking the law."

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