Andrew R. Bisignani Sentenced for Tax Fraud

Andrew R. Bisignani, 70, the former town administrator of Nahant and Saugus, has been sentenced for a four-year scheme to defraud the IRS by concealing more than $375,000 in income. The Boston federal court hearing today marked the end of a years-long investigation into the public official’s hidden financial empire.

Bisignani was handed a one-year probation sentence by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin, with the first four months to be served at Coolidge House, followed by six months of home confinement. The sentence stems from four counts of filing false tax returns, to which Bisignani pleaded guilty in December 2017.

Court documents reveal that from 2010 to 2013, Bisignani collected substantial rental income from three properties in Revere, Massachusetts. At the same time, he operated a private lending racket, issuing short-term loans secured by Massachusetts real estate and pocketing interest payments—all kept off the books.

He systematically underreported his rental income on federal tax returns for 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. He also failed to declare interest and loan income from those transactions for 2010, 2011, and 2012. The total unreported haul exceeded $375,000, a sum that should have been taxed under federal law.

The takedown was led by Acting U.S. Attorney William D. Weinreb, with support from Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigations in Boston, and Harold H. Shaw, former Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Division. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina E. Barclay of the Public Corruption Unit.

Bisignani’s fall from local government power to federal probation is a stark reminder: even behind the scenes of small-town administration, greed can trigger a federal reckoning. The case underscores the reach of financial crime enforcement in Massachusetts.