Andrew R. Bisignani Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud

Andrew R. Bisignani, 70, of Nahant, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty today to filing false federal tax returns, admitting he concealed more than $375,000 in income over four years while serving as town administrator for Nahant and Saugus. The charges cut to the core of financial deceit, exposing a web of hidden rental and loan earnings funneled through Massachusetts real estate.

Bisignani entered guilty pleas to four counts of filing false tax returns in U.S. District Court in Boston. The charges stem from income generated between 2010 and 2013, during which time he collected substantial rental payments from three properties in Revere, Mass., while also profiting from a series of private, short-term loans secured by local real estate. None of it was fully reported to the IRS.

Between 2010 and 2013, Bisignani systematically underreported his rental income on his individual tax returns. For the years 2010, 2011, and 2012, he also failed to disclose interest and loan income tied to his private lending operations. The omissions allowed him to dodge tax obligations on a sum exceeding a quarter-million dollars annually at its peak.

U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin scheduled sentencing for Feb. 14, 2017. Bisignani now faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison, one year of supervised release, and a $100,000 fine on each count. Federal sentencing guidelines typically result in terms below the statutory maximum, but the judge will weigh the depth and duration of the deception.

The case was brought by United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, with support from Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigations in Boston, and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Division. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina E. Barclay of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit, underscoring the intersection of public office and financial misconduct.

Once a trusted municipal leader, Bisignani’s fall reveals how power and position can be quietly exploited. His guilty plea marks the end of a shadow operation that relied not on violence or theft, but on silence—on blank lines left unfilled and income left unacknowledged. The government’s crackdown sends a warning: even paper crimes leave bloodstains.