Boston Economic Development Official Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribe from Developer
According to the terms of a plea agreement, the federal government will recommend Lynch receive a jail sentence within the range of 46 to 57 months.
BOSTON—The former assistant director of real estate at the Economic Development Industrial Corp., a division of the Boston Planning and Development Agency, pled guilty last week to federal corruption charges.
John M. Lynch, 66, pled guilty last Thursday to accepting $50,000 in bribes from a Boston real estate developer in 2017 in exchange for Lynch using his official influence to secure a key Boston Zoning Board of Appeals vote that favored the real estate developer.
Lynch, a Boston resident, was charged with one count of bribery involving an organization receiving federal funds, and one count of filing a false federal tax return that failed to report his receipt of the bribe payments. According to the terms of a plea agreement, the federal government will recommend Lynch receive a jail sentence within the range of 46 to 57 months.
According to the Boston Business Journal, Lynch resigned from Boston’s Economic Development Industrial Corp. on Aug. 16.
In 2017, an unnamed Boston real estate developer sought to sell a parcel of residential real estate in Boston, but needed ZBA approval to extend a permit that would have allowed the property to be sold as a multi-unit development. To get the permit extension, the developer agreed to pay $50,000 in cash bribes and a check to Lynch, in return for Lynch using his influence at the BPDA to secure a vote from a ZBA member.
The U.S. Attorney’s office states that the permit extension helped the real estate developer realize an additional $500,000 in profits that the developer otherwise would not have received absent the permit. After getting the permit extension, Lynch accepted $25,000 in cash payments and another $25,000 check, which Lynch used to pay a personal bill. Lynch then failed to report those and another $10,000 payment he had received from the real estate developer.
Lynch faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greater, and forfeiture. upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.