If you’re already skeptical of government, then the fraud committed by former Massachusetts State Senator Dean A. Tran is just one more nail in the coffin. When we elect individuals, we expect them to uphold the laws of their state and the country. Integrity should be a fundamental component of character for elected officials, in term or out. Although the pandemic brought the fraudster out in many who wouldn’t have ever considered scheming before…including Tran.
Tran served as an elected member of the Massachusetts State Senate, representing Worcester and Middlesex Counties from 2017 to January 2021. After Tran’s State Senate term ended, Tran fraudulently filed for and received pandemic unemployment benefits while simultaneously employed as a paid consultant for a New Hampshire-based retailer of automotive parts (the Automotive Parts Company). Tran fraudulently collected $30,120 in pandemic unemployment benefits.
In addition, Tran concealed $54,700 in consulting income that he received from the Automotive Parts Company from his 2021 federal income tax return. This was in addition to thousands of dollars in income that Tran concealed from the IRS while collecting rent from tenants who rented his Fitchburg property from 2020 to 2022. Maybe Tran let the power of his position go to his head?
On February 8, 2024, Tran was found guilty of unemployment fraud and income tax fraud. Tran was also ordered to pay $25,100 in restitution to the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance and $23,327 to the Internal Revenue Service, as well as a $7,500 fine and a mandatory assessment of $2,300. Otherwise known as a penalty fee for stealing from the U.S. taxpayer.
Shout out to the Federal Bureau of Investigations Boston Division in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Former Mass. Senator sentenced to prison for tax fraud” published by WWLP News on February 8, 2025.
Former Massachusetts State Senator Dean Tran was sentenced in federal court for scheming to defraud the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance and neglecting to report income that he collected to the IRS.
Tran, 48, of Fitchburg, was convicted in September 2024 of 20 counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns. He served as a state senator representing Worcester and Middlesex Counties from 2017 to January 2021, and when his term ended, he served as a paid consultant for a New Hampshire-based auto parts retailer called The Automotive Parts Company.
