A Boston City Hall employee agreed to plead guilty to pandemic fraud, for falsely claiming to be a small business owner to obtain, and then have a $20,884 payroll protection loan forgiven by the federal government.
Reuben Taylor, a 40-year-old resident and director of the City of Boston’s Municipal Protective Services, an unarmed police unit that provides security for municipal buildings like City Hall, will plead guilty to one count of wire fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Leah Foley’s office.
Taylor, who has worked for the city’s security division since 2008, admitted to initiating the pandemic fraud scheme in April 2021, when he allegedly applied for a $20,884 loan through the COVID-era paycheck protection program.
To support his application, Taylor falsely claimed that he had worked as an auto mechanic in 2019 and included fabricated 1040 and Schedule C tax forms that showed he…
THE ISUZU MOTORS PAYROLL FRAUD (GQEBERHA, SA)
Date: February 16, 2026 Perpetrator: Natasja Slabbert (42)
Case Description: In a case that hit home for the Eastern Cape business community, Natasja Slabbert, a payroll administrator at Isuzu Motors South Africa’s Struandale plant, was arrested for an alleged R10.5 million fraud. The scheme, which began surfacing in late 2024, exploited the very systems designed to manage employee compensation. Slabbert allegedly manipulated payroll records to create false entries that appeared as legitimate deductions and contributions on employee payslips. In reality, these “deductions” were being diverted into her personal bank account.
The fraud was only uncovered after diligent employees noticed that their net “take-home” pay was significantly lower than expected, despite the gross amounts on their payslips remaining high. Following a thorough probe by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team and the NPA’s Specialised Commercial Crime Unit, it was discovered that in August 2024 alone, over R626,000 was unlawfully transferred. Slabbert was granted bail of R5,000 on February 17, 2026, and the case has been postponed to later in the month for further legal proceedings. This case highlights the critical need for “segregation of duties” in payroll departments, as a single point of failure allowed for the systematic siphoning of millions over nearly two years.
Link to Original: PE Express – Isuzu Payroll Fraud