The first two weeks of May were a whirlwind of crime and punishment in Boston’s real estate scene. Former real estate agent Dale Murawski was arraigned by the AG’s office for allegedly running a series of flim-flam scams on friends, colleagues and clients; and former auctioneer Daniel Flynn III was sentenced to four years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme, closing the book on a story Banker & Tradesman has been following for more than four years.

Flynn’s tale is familiar to readers; reporter Steve Adams has written nearly a dozen stories over the years chronicling Flynn’s remarkable fall from his position as a well-known and respected figure in the industry.

“Instead of admitting I was struggling and under water, I made some bad decisions,” Flynn told U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel at a court hearing earlier this year where he pled guilty to nine counts of fraud.

At his sentencing last week, Flynn’s public defender submitted a brief containing 20 letters of support and vouching for his character. The burden of sending five children to private schools and providing them the “lifestyle to which they had become accustomed” warped Flynn’s judgment, according to the filing.

“Daniel Flynn’s story is more complicated and less sinister than the government’s simple tale of a swindling mastermind,” the memorandum said. “This case is the story of a hard-working and generous member of the community who plainly lost his way and did not know how to turn things back around.”

That might even be true, as far as it goes, but the 90 investors Flynn swindled out of an estimated $21 million – which prosecutors do not expect to ever be repaid and the loss of which contributed to two deaths – are likely to find that cold comfort.

Murawksi’s story is, based on what we know from accusations in court filings, far more sordid than Flynn’s. His alleged victims – 19 so far – include single mothers and bartenders, attorneys and real estate colleagues. The charges brought against him originate in just the past few years – there’s no using the recession as an excuse for his money troubles. Murawski declined to be interviewed by Banker & Tradesman and his motives are at this point a matter of speculation. Relatives and former friends have indicated he may have been funding a gambling addiction; others think his scams were just a game to him.

Despite the differences in their alleged and admitted crimes – and the motives behind them – those close to the two men would likely find similarities in their personalities. Both have been described as charming, gregarious, charitably-minded and (seemingly) trustworthy. Victims of each have expressed shock that the men were able to get away with their scams and schemes for as long as they did, and in such quantity.

As Flynn has learned – and Murawski is about to – in the end, crime doesn’t pay. Whether large-scale or small, victims in the dozens or the thousands, lost funds measured in six figures or nine – there will be justice.