Tran was arrested last year and accused of fraudulently collecting more than $30,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits.
Former Massachusetts state Sen. Dean Tran was convicted Wednesday of 23 charges related to fraudulently applying for pandemic unemployment assistance and lying on tax returns, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Tran, a Fitchburg Republican, served as a state senator from late 2017 until early 2021. He was arrested in November after being indicted on 25 counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Tran’s conviction Wednesday evening, saying that an official release with more details would follow. That release had not been posted as of Thursday morning.
Prosecutors alleged that, after his term ended in 2021, Tran fraudulently applied for pandemic unemployment benefits after he had already been hired as a paid consultant for a New Hampshire-based car parts company. They said he fraudulently collected $30,120 in unemployment benefits while working as the paid consultant.