Keith Taylor has established a modest need with the premise of helping people with unexpected bills. He pleaded guilty on August 18th to stealing $2.5 million for charity, the DOJ announced.
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An executive who was given millions of dollars to spend millions on poor families pleaded guilty on August 18 to steal most of his money to spend on a smiley apartment and meal at a fashionable New York restaurant, the federal government announced.
According to the US Lawyer’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Keith Taylor, former CEO of the Modest Needs Foundation, has scamended the charity he founded. Taylor embezzled more than $2.5 million in donations that are supposed to help low-income workers cover unexpected medical expenses and other expenses, such as broken electrical appliances, prosecutors said.
Instead, a donation of about $320,000 helped cover Taylor’s regular meals at a fine dining restaurant, including Thomas Keller itself. About $300,000 helped cover the executive’s luxury apartment on the 30th floor of a high-rise building in midtown Manhattan. Much of the money also helped Taylor cover his own medical expenses and electronics, federal authorities said.
“Keith Taylor has won the trust of New Yorkers generously given him to help his struggling family,” said Jay Clayton, a US lawyer for the Southern District of New York. “People who use charity dollars to line up their pockets prevent us from undermining the work of many of our great charities and special tax status charities. They have to be brought to justice.”
According to the U.S. Lawyer’s office, Taylor pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and eight count tax evasion. The former executive also pleaded guilty to avoiding federal income taxes of more than $1 million. The 58-year-old has been facing potential decades in prison. The verdict is scheduled for October.
Taylor’s lawyer declined to comment.
“I’ve always wanted to be a philanthropist.”
According to the Department of Justice, Taylor launched a modest need charity in 2002.
According to a 2002 Today Show interview, the charity was believed to rely on online crowdfunding and on pledges to donate 10% of Taylor’s salary to the cause.
“I’ve always wanted to be a philanthropist, my whole life,” Taylor told Al Loker, adding that he doesn’t know where he gained a philanthropist. “I’ve always been that way. Honestly, it was always.”
Taylor was a Tennessee professor before becoming a regular at Manhattan’s best restaurants, according to The Today Show.
The success of modest needs continued. In 2009, he told CNN that the influence of the charity made him feel “like every day Christmas.”
During the pandemic, The New York Times featured the efforts of a former humanities professor in an article on how to help people in the height of lockdown.
The company reports that over 90% of the $3.2 million donations received in 2020 were directed at people’s support. Approximately $87,000 was spent on management or management fees, according to the report.
The site looks like the early version of GoFundMe, a crowdfunding site that has become a popular last resort among people in desperate circumstances. The campaign describes people’s struggles, including providing healthcare. Funding goals were usually listed by charity cause.
According to the website, those who are prone to fundraising through charities “live one or two lost salaries that are separated from the kind of financial catastrophe that ultimately leads to homelessness through charities.”
When did embezzlement begin?
According to the Department of Justice, Taylor began spending the money intended for people listed on his website around 2015.
According to prosecutors, his own modest needs included regular meals at Midtown Manhattan’s best restaurants. Taylor would occasionally eat at such places twice a day.
According to the International Dining Guide, both itself and Masa are three Mischlin Star restaurants. The two are known for having a tasting menu that costs around $1,000.
Taylor spent about $100,000 on medical expenses and electronics, plus about $270,000 in his investment account, in addition to the $300,000 donation spent on rent in a midtown skyscraper.
Taylor continued to embezzle funds from the charity after his arrest in June 2024, according to the Justice Department.
He tried to cover his truck by creating a fake board to approve the costs. Among the fictional committee was Taylor’s housekeeper and bartender. Members of the board were not aware that they were listed as such on the company’s website or tax forms.
According to the U.S. Lawyer’s office, Taylor also pleaded guilty to tax evasion for failing to pay taxes on the funds he embezzled.
The guilty plea in Taylor’s case comes at a time when cities and countries are working on affordable prices. New York City candidate Zohran Mamdani won the city’s top office Democratic primary in a wave of support from his promise to make the city affordable for workers.
