A Massachusetts Democrat state lawmaker was indicted on five counts of wire fraud and one count of falsification of records, the Justice Department announced on Thursday.
Christopher Flanagan, a state rep for the First Barnstable District, was arrested for using stolen funds for personal and political expenses.
“Massachusetts State Representative for the First Barnstable District has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for allegedly orchestrating a multi-faceted scheme that defrauded a local trade association of tens of thousands of dollars, used to fund personal and political expenses and falsifying records to conceal his alleged conduct,” the DOJ said.
“Christopher Flanagan, 37, of Dennis, Mass. was indicted on five counts of wire fraud and one count of falsification of records. Flanagan was arrested this morning and will appear in federal court in Boston at 2:30 p.m. today,” the DOJ said.
According to the indictment, in October 2021, facing personal financial difficulty, Flanagan stole $36,000 from the Home Builders Association (HBA) in Cape Cod while he served as the executive officer of the organization.
“FLANAGAN defrauded the HBA by (a) using his signatory authority as HBA Executive Officer to secretly withdraw tens of thousands of dollars from HBA’s bank accounts; (b) entering false information in HBA’s financial bookkeeping records; (c) providing materially false and misleading HBA financial information to the HBA Board during board meetings; and (d) creating and submitting false expense reports to the HBA Board to further conceal his fraud,” the indictment read.
For the next two years, Flanagan wired thousands of dollars to himself to fund his personal and political expenses.
In one instance, Flanagan is accused of stealing hundreds of dollars in HBA funds to pay for psychic services.
The feds also accused Flanagan of obstructing the investigation.
Flanagan is facing up to 40 years in prison.
“Today’s charges against Massachusetts State Representative Christopher Flanagan reveal an appalling breach of public trust. According to the indictment, Mr. Flanagan defrauded the very organization he was supposed to serve – allegedly funneling tens of thousands of dollars into his own pockets to pay off personal bills, buy luxury items and bankroll his political campaign. He allegedly stole money and then went to extraordinary lengths to cover it up, going so far as fabricating fake personas to mislead those who questioned his conduct. This alleged scheme was calculated on every level,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley. “No one is entitled to power by way of fraud, and the people of Massachusetts deserve better.”
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