Boston man pleads guilty to loan and check fraud

Boston man pleads guilty to loan and check fraud

Date: Dec. 23, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

BOSTON – A Boston man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and stealing both a U.S. Treasury tax refund check and a check from a New York law firm.

Lonnie Smith-Matthews pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud; one count of theft of government funds; two counts of bank fraud; and two counts of money laundering. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for March 19, 2026. In June 2025, Smith-Matthews was arrested and charged by criminal complaint as part of a federal crackdown on stolen U.S. Treasury checks. He was later indicted in September 2025.

In 2021, Smith-Matthews fraudulently obtained two PPP loans by falsely claiming business income of $128,000, when he made less than half that amount and did not actually have a business. Additionally, in 2024, Smith-Matthews obtained and deposited a U.S. Treasury tax refund check for $150,000 that had been altered and forged to be payable to a defunct clothing company that Smith-Matthews owned. In fact, the U.S. Treasury check had been issued to a married couple in North Carolina as a refund on their 2023 income taxes. After depositing the check, Smith-Matthews laundered the proceeds using cashier’s checks made payable to a purported roofing company. In 2024, Smith-Matthews obtained and deposited a $232,000 check stolen from a New York firm. Like the U.S. Treasury check, the law firm check had been altered and forged to be payable to Smith-Matthews’ defunct company.

The charge of theft of government funds provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of bank fraud provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. The charge of money laundering provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three of supervised release and a fine of $500,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; Christopher J. Gust, Assistant Special Agent in charge of the U.S. Dept. of Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Northeast Field Division; and Nicholas Bucciarelli, Acting Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth B. Kosto, Chief of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

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.