08-02-2025
Former Mass. Senator sentenced to prison for tax fraud
FITCHBURG, Mass. (WWLP) – Former Massachusetts State Senator Dean Tran was sentenced in federal court for scheming to defraud the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance and neglecting to report income that he collected to the IRS.
Tran, 48, of Fitchburg, was convicted in September 2024 of 20 counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns. He served as a state senator representing Worcester and Middlesex Counties from 2017 to January 2021, and when his term ended, he served as a paid consultant for a New Hampshire-based auto parts retailer called The Automotive Parts Company.
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Charging documents state that while working at The Automotive Parts Company, Tran fraudulently received a total of $30,120 in COVID-19 pandemic unemployment benefits. He also received $54,700 in consulting income from his place of employment, which he concealed from his 2021 federal income tax return.
From 2020 to 2022, Tran additionally concealed thousands of dollars from the IRS that he received when collecting rent from tenants at his Fitchburg property.
'Former Massachusetts State Senator Dean Tran blatantly defrauded a government program meant to keep businesses and workers afloat during the pandemic, using the money for his own personal expenses, effectively stealing funds from others who needed them,' said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Boston Division. 'The FBI and our partners will continue to crack down on frauds like this because willfully defrauding the government and cheating honest taxpayers is a federal crime.'
Tran was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. He has also been ordered to pay $25,100 in restitution to the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance, $23,327 to the Internal Revenue Service, a $7,500 fine and a mandatory assessment of $2,300.
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