crime
Former Massachusetts State Senator Dean Tran was found guilty on Wednesday on 23 counts related to fraudulently applying for unemployment advantages resulting from the pandemic and lying on tax returns, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Tran, a Republican from Fitchburg, served as a state senator from late 2017 to early 2021. He was arrested in November after being charged with 25 counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns.
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced Tran's conviction Wednesday evening and said an official press release with further details would follow. As of Thursday morning, that press release had not been issued.
Prosecutors alleged that Tran fraudulently filed for unemployment advantages after his term expired in 2021, regardless that he had already been hired as a paid consultant for a New Hampshire-based auto parts company. They said he fraudulently collected $30,120 in unemployment advantages while working as a paid consultant.
Officials also alleged that Tran concealed greater than $50,000 in consulting income he received from the auto parts maker on his 2021 tax return. In addition, they alleged that Tran collected hundreds of dollars in rent from tenants of a Fitchburg property from 2020 to 2022, which he also concealed from the IRS.
“Dean Tran was once elected to serve taxpayers, but today we arrested him for allegedly defrauding them of tens of thousands of dollars in fraudulent unemployment benefits intended as a lifeline for those struggling to survive due to the pandemic,” Jodi Cohen, special agent in control of the FBI's Boston Division, said last 12 months when Tran was arrested. “This former state senator allegedly made a conscious decision to repeatedly lie about his employment status and underreport his income from rental properties so he could get a tax break.”
His trial began on September 3 in Boston. Tran told the newspaper that he denies all allegations and accused the U.S. Attorney's Office and federal investigators of being politically biased against him because he’s a Republican.
Last June, Tran was charged in a separate case The case involved an alleged try and cover up a “bogus job offer” from the sister's company. As a part of their unemployment insurance investigation, authorities were looking into an alleged job offer from trans sister Tuyet Martin of Pelham, New Hampshire.
Prosecutors alleged that Tran and Martin drafted a letter offering Tran a job at Martin's Asian food company, Alecon Enterprises, Inc. Tran allegedly signed Martin's name and backdated the letter several months before submitting it as a part of his appeal after being denied advantages. They say Martin withheld and attempted to delete emails between her and Tran regarding the letter, and that Martin made false statements to a federal grand jury in July 2023.
image credit : www.boston.com