Lawrence Mayor Brian DePena was arrested Friday morning on charges of fraud and money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts’ office.
DePena is accused of fraudulently obtaining more than $1.5 million in COVID small-business loans and using the money to fund his campaign account, pay personal taxes and hard-money mortgages that encumbered various properties he owned in Lawrence.
GBH News left a message with the mayor’s office Friday morning seeking comment but did not immediately hear back.
“Mayor DePena was elected to be a leader for the City of Lawrence. He was looked up to and trusted by his constituents, but he betrayed that trust through his alleged corruption and lies,” said U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley in a press release. “Today’s arrest is just another example of our determination to root out fraud by anyone, even public officials and holding elected officials accountable.”
In court Friday afternoon, DePena, wearing a white button-down and in handcuffs, waived a probable cause hearing and did not enter a plea. He was released with no bond, but the judge told him he can’t leave the state while the court proceedings are ongoing.
DePena faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for wire fraud and 10 years for money laundering, plus more years of supervised release and fines.
Attorney Carlos Apostle had no comment to reporters outside the courthouse, but told the judge that DePena is being treated for prostate cancer and has seven children.
DePena was elected as mayor of Lawrence in November 2021 and was reelected in November 2025. He also previously served on the Lawrence City Council from 2016 to 2021.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Small Business Administration offered taxpayer-funded Economic Injury Disaster Loans, commonly known as EIDLs, to eligible small businesses experiencing substantial financial disruptions due to the pandemic.
According to the charging documents, in 2020 and 2021, DePena applied for EIDLs for Tenares Tire Services Inc., a tire sales and automotive services business he owned in Lawrence.
A business was only permitted to use EIDL funds as working capital to alleviate economic injury caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the FBI, Tenares Tire applied for and obtained an EIDL of $150,000 in June 2020 and then used most of that money as working capital for the business.
But according to the charging documents, his mayoral campaign was struggling to pay bills and he owed the IRS for back taxes. He also owed almost $900,000 to two private, hard money lenders on loans related to properties DePena owned in the city.
In April 2021, DePena allegedly requested an increase of the Tenares Tire EIDL, and the $350,000 in EIDL funds were electronically deposited into the Tenares Tire bank account in Aug. 2021.
Shortly after, DePena paid $85,000 of the EIDL funds to the IRS to pay off personal tax debts, transferred $120,000 of the EIDL funds to a personal account and used that money to write checks totaling $90,000 to “The Committee to Elect Brian DePena,” according to the FBI. It is alleged that the checks were deposited in the DePena mayoral campaign account, and characterized as loans to the campaign, in September and October 2021.
DePena also allegedly used $883,293 of the EIDL funds to pay off his debts to the hard money lenders.
