BOSTON – Former Massachusetts State Senator Dean A. Tran was sentenced Friday in federal court for defrauding the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance and failing to report income to the Internal Revenue Service.
Tran, 48, of Fitchburg, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 18 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $25,100 in restitution to the state unemployment agency, $23,327 to the IRS, a $7,500 fine, and a mandatory assessment of $2,300. Tran was convicted in September 2024 on 20 counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2023.
“Regardless of today’s outcome which we anticipated, we plan to appeal the verdict. It was clear in the comments made in the courtroom that the driving factors behind my investigation were weaponization and lawfare. I am innocent. This is nothing more than a politically motivated witch hunt started under Rachael Rollins using the FBI election crimes unit to interfere with my 2022 congressional campaign and prevent me from seeking future office,” he said.
“FBI agent Leah Ferrara, Department of Labor agent Christina Rosen, and IRS agent Mark Elliott conspired and violated my constitutional and civil rights during their raid of my home. Assistant US attorneys Dustin Chao and John Mulcahy distorted the facts, manipulated financial data, misled the juries, directed federal agents to lie to the grand jury to secure the indictment, gave false testimony at the trial, and even had the RMV suspended by car registration at their pleasure without legal cause. These people are corrupt and evil and abuse their authority. They are very bad people who love to use press conferences to make themselves look worthy,” Tran claimed.
Tran represented Worcester and Middlesex counties in the Massachusetts State Senate from 2017 to 2021. After leaving office, he fraudulently collected $30,120 in pandemic unemployment benefits while working as a paid consultant for an automotive parts company in New Hampshire.
Prosecutors said Tran also failed to report $54,700 in consulting income on his 2021 federal tax return and concealed rental income from tenants in Fitchburg between 2020 and 2022.
“When Dean Tran took his oath of office as a Massachusetts State Senator, he willingly entered into a world of being in the public eye,” said U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley. “He chose to violate the public’s trust not once, but twice by defrauding the government out of unemployment benefits and willfully omitting his taxable income.”
Federal officials said Tran’s actions took funds meant for pandemic relief and undermined public confidence in elected officials.
“Today’s sentencing of Dean Tran demonstrates that no one is above the law, even elected officials,” said Thomas Demeo, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Boston Field Office.
Tran’s conviction marks another case in a series of prosecutions targeting fraud involving COVID-19 relief funds.