John F. Casey, 56, the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Boston Grand Prix and former owner of an ice rink on Route 1 in Peabody was arrested Tuesday on charges that he allegedly failed to repay nearly $1 million in loans he fraudulently procured in connection with the rink in a scheme to defraud equipment and small business financing companies, including $145,000 he received some two months after he sold the rink.
He was also charged with failure to report nearly $1 million in income he received from the race, a race that never took place, on his federal tax returns.
Casey, a resident of Ipswich, was indicted on eight counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, three counts of money laundering and three counts of filing false tax returns. Casey made an initial appearance in court Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald J. Cabell.
The indictment alleges that Casey owned an ice rink in Peabody, identified by an unnamed source as the Mass Bay Hockey Center, 216 Newbury St., between October 2013 and June 1, 2016. Between October 2014 and October 2016, Casey obtained more than $743,000 in funds from equipment financing companies, purportedly for the purchase of equipment for the ice rink. In addition, in August 2016, more than two months after he sold the Peabody rink, Casey obtained more than $145,000 in small business loans for the rink business. In order to secure the financing, Casey allegedly submitted materially false documents and information, including fake invoices for the equipment, bank records purporting to show deposits into Casey’s accounts related to the Peabody rink, falsely inflated personal and corporate tax returns, and personal financial statements falsely claiming ownership and value of various assets.
Casey also allegedly submitted a fake Deed of Sale containing a forged signature in support of one of his loan applications. Relying on Casey’s false statements, the financing companies provided funding to Casey in amounts and on terms they otherwise would not have made. Most of the funds provided by the victim companies were never repaid.
As alleged in the indictment, Casey became the CFO of the Boston Grand Prix in January 2015. The Boston Grand Prix organization made payments to or on behalf of Casey totaling approximately $308,292 in 2015 and $601,073 in 2016 which Casey failed to include in the gross income he claimed on his personal tax returns for those years.
Casey is also charged with laundering the proceeds of his fraud scheme, and with failing to include the income from his fraud scheme on his 2014, 2015 and 2016 personal federal tax returns.
The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of the greater of either $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for a consecutive sentence of two years in prison, one year supervised release and a fine of the greater of either $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss. The charge of unlawful monetary transactions provides for a sentence of up to10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of the greater of either $250,000 or twice the value of the criminally derived property. The charge of filing false tax returns provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
