A Connecticut real estate agent has been sentenced to prison for his involvement in a long-running scheme to defraud clients through fraudulent short sales of properties. James Macchio, 46, from Glastonbury, was sentenced in federal court in Boston by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin. He received a 42-month prison sentence followed by two years of supervised release. Additionally, Macchio was ordered to forfeit $621,579 and pay at least $2,567,154 in restitution.
Macchio had pleaded guilty in May 2024 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Alongside another real estate agent, Sheldon Haag, Macchio used straw buyers to purchase properties owned by clients of his brokerage. These clients included banks, federal agencies, bankruptcy trustees, and other mortgage holders. The straw buyers were part of a shell company set up as a purported construction company by a co-conspirator.
The fraudulent scheme involved hiding their roles as de facto buyers and using insider knowledge as brokers to minimize sale prices for personal gain through property flipping. They also submitted fake renovation bids from contractors they controlled through a co-conspirator and hired different contractors at lower costs while pocketing the difference.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Macchio and his co-conspirators obtained pandemic relief loans from the Small Business Administration to fund their ongoing fraud activities.
Sheldon Haag had previously pleaded guilty for his role in the conspiracy and was sentenced in October 2024 to one year and one day in prison with supervised release thereafter.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Jodi Cohen from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Boston Division; Jonathan Wlodyka from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation's Boston Field Office; and Christopher Algieri from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Inspector General's Northeast Field Office. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development also provided assistance with Assistant U.S. Attorney Kriss Basil prosecuting the case.