Prosecutors anticipate a guilty plea in cases involving a promotional products distributor from Utah who is accused of a COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) scam and also of allegedly lying to obtain coronavirus-related business relief loans from the federal government, then spending a chunk of the money on a new truck. 

In court papers filed the week of June 26, federal prosecutors said it’s “anticipated that (John Anthony Taylor) will be pleading guilty to fraud.”

Court filings also indicated that the prosecution and defense have stipulated to the sale of the 2014 GMC Sierra 1500 truck that Taylor is accused of purchasing with business relief loans as part of a forfeiture.

The U.S. Marshals Service is being lined up to sell the truck at an auction. After paying various costs associated with the sale and any potential liens, the government would maintain the net proceeds in a seized asset account pending further court order.

A trial that had been scheduled for July 18 is likely to be postponed.

Taylor has previously told ASI Media that he has not done anything illegal. “It’s a complete misunderstanding,” he said of the first case against him, which involves wire fraud charges filed in 2020.

In that case, Taylor perpetuated a PPE scam at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, prosecutors charge. According to authorities, Taylor claimed to have access to millions of N95 respirator masks from 3M when he did not have the masks or such access.

Not an authorized 3M dealer, Taylor made false representations, including emailing a fake purchase order from 3M and attempting to execute a bogus mask sale with an undercover FBI agent, authorities allege.

Already with the one case against him, Taylor drew heat from authorities again in March 2022 when federal prosecutors charged him with one count of money laundering and two counts of making a false statement on a loan or credit application.

Authorities allege that Taylor lied about his criminal record in order to obtain a loan of about $36,500 from the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and $15,600 from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

In applying for the PPP loan, Taylor certified that he was not “subject to an indictment, criminal information, arraignment, or other means by which formal criminal charges are brought in any jurisdiction” and was not presently on probation or parole. In reality, however, he was on pretrial probation for the 2020 wire fraud case.

Once Taylor had the government money, he allegedly spent $22,007 of it on the GMC Sierra. Such an expense is not allowed under the terms of the loans, which were designed to help keep businesses afloat amid the economic crash of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal authorities have identified Taylor as the owner of Utah-based Positive Marketing, LLC and WasatchPromotionalProducts.com. Positive Marketing is not an ASI-listed distributor; Wasatch had been ASI-listed but was terminated prior to any of the allegations. Taylor’s LinkedIn profile also identifies him as the owner of BindersNow.com, which is not ASI-listed