Keith Taylor, the founder and former chief executive of Modest Needs Foundation, a Manhattan charity that helped low-income workers cover emergency bills, was sentenced Oct. 28 to eight years in federal prison for embezzling more than $2.5 million in donations and spending it on a luxury Midtown apartment, expensive restaurant meals and other personal expenses, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced. U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon also ordered three years of supervised release, $3,118,237 in forfeiture and $4,144,645 in restitution.

Prosecutors had asked for nine years, or 108 months, in a filing reported by Inner City Press on October 22.

Taylor admitted to one count of wire fraud and eight counts of tax evasion on August 18, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced. The wire fraud count carries a maximum of 30 years in prison because Taylor committed the offense while on pretrial release, and each tax evasion count carries a maximum of five years.