Boston City Hall is dealing with another alleged spending scandal. More than $30,000 in taxpayer money went missing from a community program's budget and it could become a criminal investigation.

The nonprofit Three Squares Main Street, formerly known as Hyde Jackson Square Main Street, is part of the Boston Main Streets program. That's a network of 20 independent nonprofits aimed at revitalizing neighborhood businesses in Boston.

More than $32,000 missing

According to the city's Finance Commission, someone noticed a formatting change to a document that uncovered alleged fraud for more than a year-and-a-half at Three Squares Main Street. The program allegedly provided altered bank statements to the city, which amounted to $32,447.33 that's still unaccounted for. 

The city found the money came from three federal pandemic grants and was "deposited into a co-mingled bank account," according to a letter from the commission.

When comparing reports, the commission found nine alleged fraudulent charges from August 2023 to March 2025.

Allegedly altered bank statements

The alleged markups included a $5.15 payment to PayPal in March on the original bank statement that turned into a $2,301.01 payment to Staples. There was also a $7.43 payment to PayPal in November 2023 that was changed to a $2,200 payment to Home Depot on the updated bank statement.

The largest alleged markup was a $150.69 payment to Comcast in August 2023 that the commission said was changed into a $14,416 payment to the security company NorthHill Wilkston.

"We are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened here," said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. "But also, that the businesses and the others in the community who were supposed to be the recipients of this will have the supports that they need." 

The Finance Commission said the grants used money from the Federal American Rescue Plan Act, which was signed in 2021 to provide financial recovery from the pandemic. The act provided $350 billion to state and local governments. 

The commission recommended the city temporarily withhold further payments to Three Squares Main Street until the issue is resolved.

"We're grateful for City staff who have been working to ensure oversight of every dollar of federal funds spent on pandemic recovery, including grants to nonprofit organizations. Through their diligence, these financial irregularities were identified and reported to the appropriate agencies to take action. The City will continue to support any further investigation, and is undertaking a further audit to ensure full accountability," said a spokesperson for the city of Boston in a statement.    

Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn called for investigations at the city, state and federal level. 

"I am troubled about these accusations," Flynn said. "We have an obligation to be good stewards of the public money. When money is misappropriated such as this case, there needs to be the appropriate investigations." 

No charges yet

No charges have been filed at this point in the investigation. Flynn said it's unclear how much of the $32,000 was spent or can be recovered. 

WBZ-TV reached out to Three Squares for comment but their phone line was disconnected and emails went unanswered. 

Last month,  Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson pled guilty to taking part in a kickback scheme with a relative. Her sentencing date has not been set yet.