Rep. Christopher Flanagan spoke at an Oct. 24, 2023, press conference in Yarmouth that also featured Gov. Maura Healey. Healey called on Flanagan to resign when he was arrested on federal fraud charges on April 11, 2025. Photo by Joshua Qualls | Courtesy of the Massachusetts governor's office/Flickr
Federal prosecutors indicted state Rep. Christopher Flanagan, of Dennis, for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the Cape Cod homebuilders trade group on Friday.
Flanagan was the former head of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod, and the five counts of federal wire fraud and one count of falsification of records stem from his time there.
“Today’s arrest of Massachusetts State Representative, Christopher Flanagan, demonstrates that postal inspectors will not permit elected officials to commit fraud and play by different rules,” Ketty Larco-Ward, inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division said in a statement released by the Massachusetts federal district attorney’s office. “Flanagan’s egregious betrayal to his positions of trust and his deplorable actions of lining his own pockets for personal or political reasons are unacceptable. The people of Massachusetts deserve better.”
From approximately early 2019 to mid-2024, Flanagan was the executive officer of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod. As executive officer, Flanagan reported to a board of directors and had signatory authority over the association’s bank accounts and received an annual salary and benefits ranging approximately from $65,800 to $81,600 from 2019 to 2024, prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley’s office claims that, beginning as early as October of 2021, Flanagan was facing “personal financial difficulty.” According to the indictment, from November 2021 to January 2023, Flanagan stole a total of $36,000 in funds from the association’s bank account via official checks, PayPal transfers and direct debit transactions from the association’s bank account
Flanagan allegedly used the majority of the stolen funds to pay mortgage bills, to pay down thousands of dollars in credit card debt, pay for psychiatric services and other spending. In one instance, prosecutors claim that in January of 2023, Flanagan allegedly stole $10,000 in order to fund his campaign account for state representative.
Flanagan could face up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 for the wire fraud charges and up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 for the falsification of records charge.
The state Republican Party has called for Flanagan, a Democrat, to be expelled from his party or for him to resign his seat in the House of Representatives.
