CFO of failed Seaport Grand Prix admits he kept on frauding even after he was indicted for fraud

An Ipswich man pleaded guilty today to 33 fraud-related counts, admitting he screwed everybody from small businesses to the IRS - and that even after he was indicted last fall, he put in for $70,000 worth of bogus claims for coronavirus payroll relief.

The US Attorney's office in Boston reports that, at his sentencing, scheduled for Feb. 15, John F. Casey, 57, faces up to 38 years in federal prison on all the charges.

Casey was CFO for the company that failed in an effort to bring a Grand Prix race to the Seaport. He is not charged with defrauding that venture but with failing to list more than $900,000 in salary on his taxes.

Casey also admitted to defrauding lenders from which he obtained for a Peabody ice rink even after he sold it in 2016.

In order to secure the financing, Casey submitted 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, inflated personal and corporate tax returns and personal financial statements falsely claiming ownership and value of various assets. Casey also 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.

Casey was indicted in September, 2020. But that didn't stop him, the US Attorney's office says:

In January 2021, while awaiting trial for the financing fraud scheme, Casey submitted an application for a $70,000 pandemic-related relief grant to the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation containing false information about the operating expenses of a company that was not in business in 2019 or 2020. Between April 2020 and April 2021, approximately $676,552 in COVID-19 relief funds was deposited into bank accounts controlled by Casey, and he used the vast majority of the funds for personal expenses, including a three-carat diamond ring, a six-month membership to Match.com, private school tuition, residential rent payments, living expenses, payments on personal credit card accounts, restaurant meals, car payments and luxury hotel stays.