MA rep 'defrauded' state of $36,000 to fund campaign and 'personal psychic services': feds

A lawmaker in the Massachusetts State Legislature is being rocked by an ethics scandal, and on Friday morning, April 11, it led to an arrest by federal authorities.

According to CBS News reporter Mike Toole, State Rep. Christopher Flanagan was arrested following allegations of stealing tens of thousands of dollars "to fund personal and political expenses." And he was "indicted on five counts of wire fraud and one count of falsification of records," Toole reports.

Leah Foley, a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), alleges that Flanagan was "facing personal financial difficulty, with thousands of dollars in outstanding credit card debt, missing mortgage payments and hundreds of dollars in bank overdraft fees."

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Toole quotes Foley as saying, "In one instance, in January 2023, Flanagan allegedly stole $10,000 from [Home Builders Association] HBA in order to fund his campaign account for State Representative. Flanagan also stole hundreds of dollars via direct debit transactions from the association's bank account funds to pay for personal psychic services in July 2022."

DOJ investigators, according to Toole, "said Flanagan then logged into the HBA's bookkeeping software using someone else's account and listed the expenses as office supplies, travel and bank charges. He also allegedly created two fake expense reports."

In addition to the DOJ probe, Flanagan was, Toole reports, investigated by the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance."

In an official statement issued on April 11, Foley alleged, "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."

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Read the full CBS News article at this link.