Massachusetts Mayor Charged in $1.5M EIDL Case

Massachusetts Mayor Brian DePena was charged Friday in a federal case that accuses him of steering more than $1.5 million in pandemic relief money away from his business and into his campaign, personal finances and real estate debts. The Lawrence mayor, 61, was arrested Friday morning after investigators examined how he allegedly handled Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds tied to his auto service and tire shop.

Prosecutors say the loans came through the U.S. Small Business Administration under the CARES Act, the emergency law enacted to help businesses survive the economic shock of COVID-19. DePena first applied in May 2020 on behalf of Tenares Tire Service Inc. in Lawrence. The SBA approved an initial $150,000 loan in June 2020, then later approved a $350,000 increase in April 2021 and another modification in October 2021 that brought the total to $1.1 million. The funds carried a 3.75% interest rate and were meant to cover pandemic-related business strain, not personal or political expenses.

According to the complaint, the money did not remain in the business. Federal authorities say that between August and October 2021, DePena moved nearly $90,000 from business accounts to personal accounts and then wrote checks totaling more than $42,000 to The Committee to Elect Brian DePena. Prosecutors also say he used the loan proceeds to pay $85,000 to the Internal Revenue Service for personal back taxes and another $883,293 to retire high-interest mortgages on properties he owned in Lawrence. The allegations describe a pattern of diverting public relief money into uses that were far outside the program’s purpose.

U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said DePena had been elected to serve Lawrence and had instead betrayed the trust of the people who chose him. In announcing the arrest, Foley framed the case as part of a broader effort to pursue pandemic-era fraud, including misconduct by public officials. The charges include wire fraud and money laundering, serious federal offenses that can carry lengthy prison terms if convicted.

DePena’s political profile makes the allegations especially significant in Lawrence, a densely populated city north of Boston that has long faced economic challenges and relied on public trust in local leadership. He was elected mayor in November 2021 and won reelection in November 2025, after previously serving on the Lawrence City Council from 2016 to 2021. The case now places one of the city’s highest elected officials under intense scrutiny at a time when many communities are still reckoning with how pandemic aid was distributed and used.