BOSTON — A Massachusetts state representative has been charged in a superseding federal indictment with additional counts of wire fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced on Friday.
Christopher Flanagan, 38, of Dennis, was indicted on eight counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, one count of falsification of records and three counts of filing false tax returns.
Flanagan is a Democrat who represents the First Barnstable District, which includes Dennis, Yarmouth and Brewster. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Flanagan was previously charged in a six-count indictment in April 2025 and will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
Before he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2022, Flanagan served two consecutive three-year terms on the Dennis Select Board.
Flanagan also served from early 2019 to mid-2024 as executive officer of the Home Builders Association in Cape Cod (HBA), a professional trade association representing more than 300 members of the Cape Cod building industry. In that role, prosecutors say, Flanagan reported to a board of directors and had signatory authority over the association’s bank accounts.
Federal prosecutors allege that beginning in around October 2021, Flanagan was allegedly facing personal financial difficulties, including thousands of dollars in 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 through wire transfers. It is also alleged that from February 2021 to December 2023, he 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 payments, pay down thousands of dollars in credit card debt, and cover other personal expenses. Prosecutors say he also stole $10,000 from HBA in January 2023 to fund his campaign account for state representative.
Federal prosecutors also allege Flanagan used hundreds of dollars of HBA funds to pay for personal psychic services in July 2022.
The superseding indictment further alleges that Flanagan failed to report the stolen funds on his personal tax returns for 2021, 2022 and 2023, and failed to report rental income he collected on his 2023 tax return.
According to prosecutors, on or about May 5, 2024, Flanagan concealed the stolen funds from the HBA Board by logging into the organization’s accounting/bookkeeping software using another employee’s account, entering backdated transactions, and assigning false transaction codes to them, such as “office supplies,” “travel” and “bank charges.”
Prosecutors say Flanagan told the board the withdrawals were reimbursements for association-related expenses he had paid for personally. When the board requested proof, he allegedly provided two phony expense reports.
The indictment alleges one expense report falsely listed a $159.36 Best Buy purchase on March 4, 2022, as “Technology Expenses” and a $537.26 4Imprint purchase on April 18, 2022, as “Office Supplies.” Prosecutors say records showed the Best Buy purchase was for a portable Bluetooth speaker and the 4Imprint purchase was for t-shirts supporting Flanagan’s state representative campaign.
A second expense report allegedly claimed $3,784.84 in “Office Supplies,” though prosecutors say $2,118.10 of that amount was actually spent on personal items, including an electric dryer, an air conditioner, $1,050.30 worth of men’s ties from Macy’s, and $92.86 children’s clothes and toys from Target.
The superseding indictment also describes an investigation by the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance that began in around December 2022 into a campaign mailer distributed during Flanagan’s 2022 state representative campaign. Prosecutors say the mailer was attributed to a group called “Conservatives for Dennis.”
According to the indictment, Flanagan allegedly obstructed the OCPF investigation by creating a false persona named “Jeanne Louise,” whom he claimed was part of an independent conservative group that endorsed his candidacy. Prosecutors say he later admitted to OCPF that Jeanne Louise was fake and that he was the source of the mailer.
After that admission, OCPF expanded its investigation into Flanagan’s campaign finance activity and requested documentation showing that a $10,000 deposit into his campaign account in January 2023 came from his personal funds.
Prosecutors allege Flanagan’s bank records showed he could not have issued the $10,000 campaign check without the stolen HBA funds. The indictment alleges Flanagan then provided OCPF with falsified expense reports claiming the $10,000 payment from the association was a legitimate expense reimbursement, that the association had a practice of allowing him to withdraw large sums of money for expense reimbursements, and that the $10,000 campaign check was therefore a legitimate donation of Flanagan’s own personal funds.
The wire fraud charges each carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The money laundering charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000. The falsification of records charge provides a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The false tax return charges each carry a sentence of up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Demeo, special agent in charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Boston Field Office; and Jason Buckley, acting inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division, announced the charges. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Maynard and Dustin Chao of the Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit are prosecuting the case.
