Massachusetts State Rep. Francisco Paulino was arrested on Tuesday and indicted on federal charges that accuse him of pandemic benefit fraud and money laundering, placing the 16th Essex District lawmaker at the center of a case that alleges he used relief money as personal and business cash. Prosecutors say the conduct ran from April 2020 to December 2021.
Paulino was charged with eight counts of wire fraud and three counts of unlawful monetary transactions, a filing that says he used intermediaries and the identities of other people to move pandemic-related relief funds into his own personal and business bank accounts. The indictment also says he used Madison Tax, his tax preparation business, as a device in the alleged scheme and that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in government loans under false pretenses.
The arrest is drawing attention because Paulino is not just a local officeholder. He represents the 16th Essex District, which includes Lawrence and Methuen, and he has also described himself as a tax lawyer and business consultant. That makes the allegations sharper than a routine fraud case: prosecutors are accusing him of using the tools of his profession in the very scheme they say he ran.
It is also landing in a politically charged moment for the area. Paulino is the second high-ranking elected official from the region to be charged with fraud and money laundering this month, after Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña was arrested on August 14 and indicted on Wednesday in a separate alleged scheme. WBZ-TV said it had reached out to Paulino's office for comment and had not heard back.
The next public detail is expected at a news conference at U.S. Attorney Leah Foley's office in Boston at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Until then, the central unanswered question is how prosecutors say the alleged use of intermediaries and other identities worked inside the business and bank records they now say trace back to Paulino.
