Boston Grand Prix CFO who admitted to fraud, money laundering sentenced to 4 years in prison

BOSTON —John Casey, the former chief financial officer of the Boston Grand Prix, was sentenced Tuesday to spend four years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering and filing false tax returns.

The judge also sentenced him to three years of supervised release after his prison term and ordered that he pay restitution of nearly $2 million.

"He has shown just a completely reckless disregard for the law," the judge said Tuesday.

Casey is due to report to prison on April 12.

Federal prosecutors were seeking a prison term of 94 months.

"Casey’s offenses, while white-collar in nature, require a significant term of imprisonment beyond the mandatory sentence," the prosecution wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

The defense claimed Casey is dependent on his sister, living at her house and undergoing dialysis 10 hours a day. They said he awaiting a kidney transplant, but that other health factors may prevent him from getting one.

"I'm truly sorry for the acts that I committed," Casey said. " I look forward to someday making amends. I’m sorry that I put so many people through all of this. I apologize for everything."

Case, formerly of Ipswich, was indicted in September and pleaded guilty in October.

Casey became the CFO of the Boston Grand Prix in January 2015.

The failed road race was the subject of numerous 5 Investigates reports. It was billed as an event never before seen in Boston — a live IndyCar race right in the middle of the Seaport District over a Labor Day Weekend — but was abruptly canceled, leaving behind numerous questions and nearly empty bank accounts.

In 2016, 5 Investigates reported that Casey's testimony described a company spending millions with little or no oversight or traditional accounting, involving large sums of money raised from investors, sponsors and ticket buyers. Under oath, Casey said that in addition to payments he received or was owed by the Boston Grand Prix, he used the race's accounts to pay his own bills and that the business paid for his Porsche, some business suits and a Boston College Club membership.

Federal prosecutors said 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 owned an ice rink in Peabody from October 2013 until he sold it in June 2016.

Between October 2014 and October 2016, Casey obtained over $743,000 in funds from equipment financing companies, purportedly for the purchase of equipment for the ice rink, when in fact he no longer owned the rink for four months during this period.

In addition, in August 2016, more than two months after he sold the Peabody rink, Casey obtained over $145,000 in small business loans for the rink business.

Federal prosecutors said 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.

Prosecutors said financing companies used the false statements to provide him money on terms they otherwise would not have made. Authorities said most of the money provided by the victim companies was never repaid.

COVID-19 economic relief fraud

Federal prosecutors said during the coronavirus pandemic, Casey orchestrated a scheme to fraudulently obtain economic injury disaster loans and paycheck protection program loans from the SBA and a Massachusetts sector-specific relief grant by submitting false applications for companies he created and controlled and improperly using the fraudulently obtained loan and grant funds for personal expenses.

They accused Casey of submitting at least 14 loan applications to the SBA and intermediary lenders which contained false information.

Federal authorities said between April 2020 and April 2021, approximately $676,552 in COVID-19 relief funds was deposited into bank accounts controlled by Casey. They claim 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.

Casey also pleaded guilty to laundering the proceeds of his fraud schemes and to failing to include the income from the Peabody rink fraud scheme on his 2014, 2015 and 2016 personal federal tax returns.

Casey faces significant prison time when he is scheduled to be sentenced in mid-February.