Chattanooga pastor sentenced to 30 months for wire fraud and tax fraud charges in $1.8 million COVID-19 employment fraud scheme

Date: Jan. 8, 2026

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Chattanooga, TN – On January 8, 2026, Ricky Lee Taylor, Jr., currently of Chattanooga, TN, was sentenced by the Honorable Charles E. Atchley, Jr., United States District Judge, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, Taylor agreed to plead guilty to an information charging him with one count of Wire Fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 and one count of Tax Fraud in violation of 26 U.S.C. 7206(1). Taylor was sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The Court ordered that Taylor pay a money judgment of $942,238.85 and $2,532,528.18 in restitution to the United States.

Taylor, a former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball player, now a preacher and entrepreneur, ran several businesses to include Potter’s Wheel Trucking, LLC; Ricky Taylor Basketball, LLC; Arena of Praise; Spirit Logistics, LLC; and Reap Real Estate and Property. Taylor applied for Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans on behalf of these entities and in so doing provided fraudulent documentation in support of the loans. In total, Taylor submitted eight fraudulent applications and received approximately $1,800,000 in loans, which significantly exceeded any amount to which he would have been legally entitled. Taylor then filed fraudulent personal tax returns that did not account for the income from the PPP loans.

U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III of the Eastern District of Tennessee, Special Agent in Charge, Donald “Trey” Eakins, IRS Criminal Investigations (“IRS CI”), and Resident Agent in Charge, Adam Lander, of the United States Secret Service made the announcement.

The criminal information was the result of a joint investigation in Chattanooga, TN by the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS and the United States Secret Service.

Assistant United States Attorney Christopher D. Poole represented the United States.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.