BOSTON — A Massachusetts lawmaker representing districts on Cape Cod has been indicted on new fraud, money laundering, and tax charges following his arrest last year, the U.S. Attorney said Friday.
State Rep. Christopher Richard Flanagan, 38, a Democrat from Dennis, was indicted on eight counts of wire fraud, three counts of filing false tax returns, and one count each of money laundering and falsification of records, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement.
Flanagan was previously arrested and charged in a six-count indictment in April 2025. He will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
Flanagan is accused of defrauding a local trade association of tens of thousands of dollars to fund personal and political expenses, and falsifying records to conceal his alleged conduct, Foley said.
Boston 25 has reached out to Flanagan for comment.
Flanagan represents the towns of Brewster and Dennis and Precincts 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8 in Yarmouth on Cape Cod.
Prosecutors allege that Flanagan used stolen funds for mortgage and credit card payments, campaign funding, and personal expenditures, including psychic services, menswear, and an air conditioner.
Prior to being elected to his first two-year term to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2022, Flanagan served two consecutive three-year terms as a member of the Town of Dennis Select Board.
Prosecutors said Flanagan received a state salary of approximately $97,546 in 2023 and $100,945 in 2024.
From approximately early 2019 to mid-2024, Flanagan also served as the Executive Officer of a Home Builders Association on Cape Cod – a professional trade association representing the Cape Cod building industry, comprising over 300 members.
As HBA Executive Officer, prosecutors said Flanagan reported to the Board of Directors and had signatory authority over HBA bank accounts.
Flanagan received an annual salary and benefits ranging from approximately $65,800 to $81,600 from the HBA from 2019 to 2024.
Prosecutors allege that, as early as October 2021, Flanagan was facing personal financial difficulties, including thousands of dollars in outstanding credit card debt, missed mortgage payments, and hundreds of dollars in bank overdraft fees.
According to the superseding indictment, from November 2021 to January 2023, Flanagan stole more than $36,000 in HBA funds from one of the association’s bank accounts via wire transfers:
Additionally, it is alleged that from February 2021 to December 2023, Flanagan stole more than $7,000 from another HBA bank account via wire transfers:
Flanagan allegedly used most of the stolen funds to pay personal mortgage bills, to pay down thousands of dollars in credit card debt, and to make other personal expenditures.
In one instance, in January 2023, prosecutors allege Flanagan stole $10,000 from HBA in order to fund his campaign account for state representative.
Prosecutors also allege that, in addition to stealing HBA funds via official checks and PayPal transfers, Flanagan also stole hundreds of dollars via direct debit transactions from the association’s bank account to pay for personal psychic services in July 2022.
The superseding indictment alleges that Flanagan did not report the stolen funds on his personal tax returns for tax years 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Additionally, prosecutors allege that Flanagan collected rental income that he failed to report on his 2023 tax returns.
According to the superseding indictment, on or about May 5, 2024, Flanagan concealed the stolen funds from the HBA Board by logging onto HBA’s accounting/bookkeeping software using another employee’s account, entering backdated transactions to account for the stolen funds, and entering false transaction codes (e.g., “office supplies,” “travel” and “bank charges”) for the withdrawals.
As part of his concealment, prosecutors allege that Flanagan told the HBA Board that he withdrew funds to reimburse himself for HBA-related expenses that he had paid for out-of-pocket with his personal funds. When the HBA Board requested proof, Flanagan allegedly provided two phony expense reports:
On the first expense report, Flanagan allegedly claimed he had spent $159.36 on “Technology Expenses” at Best Buy on March 4, 2022 and $537.26 on “Office Supplies” at 4Imprint on April 18, 2022.
Records of the actual purchases, however, allegedly showed that the Best Buy purchase was for a portable Bluetooth speaker and that the 4Imprint purchase was for t-shirts supporting Flanagan’s State Representative campaign, according to prosecutors:
Additionally, in the second expense report, Flanagan allegedly claimed to have spent a total of $3,784.84 on “Office Supplies.”
Records of the actual purchases, however, allegedly showed that $2,118.10 of this amount was actually used for Flanagan’s personal expenses.
Specifically: $613.70 and $361.24 Best Buy purchases were allegedly for an electric dryer and an air conditioner, both delivered to Flanagan’s home; a $1,050.30 Macy’s purchase allegedly for men’s ties, dress shirts, slacks, and sports coats; and a $92.86 purchase at Target allegedly for children’s clothes and toys.
According to the superseding indictment, in or about December 2022, the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance opened an investigation regarding a campaign mailer that was distributed during Flanagan’s 2022 campaign for State Representative, purportedly by a group called “Conservatives for Dennis.”
Prosecutors allege that Flanagan obstructed the Office of Campaign and Political Finance investigation by attributing the source of the mailer to a false persona he created named, “Jeanne Louise,” whom Flanagan claimed was a member of an independent conservative group that had endorsed his candidacy.
Prosecutors further allege that Flanagan created and sent phony emails to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, purporting to be from vendors responsible for creating and distributing the mailer.
In October 2023, after Flanagan admitted to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance that Jeanne Louise was fake and that he himself was the source of the mailer, the office expanded its investigation into Flanagan’s campaign finance activity, Foley said.
Specifically, the Office of Campaign and Political Finance requested Flanagan produce evidence that the $10,000 deposited into his campaign account in January 2023 had indeed come from his personal funds.
However, prosecutors allege that Flanagan’s bank statements from the time of the deposit in January 2023 would reflect that he could not have issued the $10,000 campaign check without his theft of HBA money – showing a beginning balance of approximately $42.28 just one week before depositing the stolen funds.
In response, Flanagan allegedly provided the Office of Campaign and Political Finance with falsified expense reports that claimed that: the $10,000 check from HBA constituted legitimate HBA-reimbursed expenses; that HBA had a practice of allowing Flanagan to withdraw large sums of money for the purpose of expense reimbursement; and therefore, the $10,000 campaign check was a legitimate donation of Flanagan’s own personal funds.
Prosecutors further allege that Flanagan transferred $10,000 in stolen funds from his personal bank account to his campaign bank account before using the funds to pay vendors to conceal the true source of the funds.
For each wire fraud charge, Flanagan faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
For the money-laundering charge, Flanagan faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.
For the charge of falsification of records, Flanagan faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
For each charge of filing false income tax returns, Flanagan faces a sentence of up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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