Former Attorney Sentenced for Veterans’ Benefits Fraud

BOSTON – A former attorney was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with a scheme to defraud a veteran.

Matthew J. McCarthy, 48, of Lowell, Mass., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV, to six months in prison, six months of home confinement, and ordered to pay restitution of $36,105.  In August 2016, McCarthy pleaded guilty to one count of theft of public money.

In early 2000, McCarthy, an attorney at the time, was appointed as a guardian for a 64-year old veteran.  Between October 2009 and March 2011, McCarthy appropriated the benefits deposited into the veteran’s bank account by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.  McCarthy wrote checks to himself and third parties from the veterans’ bank account, endorsed and cased the checks, appropriating approximately $36,000.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Donna Neves, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of the Inspector General, Northeast Field Office, made the announcement.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Giselle J. Joffre of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.