A federal judge yesterday ordered John Lynch, who admitted taking bribes to help a developer get a zoning approval he needed, freed from the federal prison in Devens so that he can spend the rest of his sentence under home confinement in Dorchester, rather than risk contracting Covid-19. Read more.
A federal judge today denied a request from from former BPDA manager John Lynch that he be allowed to finish his 40-month sentence at home because of the medical risks he would face should he contract Covid-19 behind bars. Read more.
A federal judge today sentenced former BPDA manager John Lynch of Dorchester to 40 months - a little more than three years - in prison following his admission he let a developer pay him off to arrange a zoning vote the developer needed. Read more.
Photo showing Lynch taking one of several bribe payments, prosecutors say.
Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to send now former BPDA middle manager John Lynch to federal prison for four years for accepting a $50,000 bribe from a developer to arrange a successful zoning-board vote on a South Boston condo project. Read more.
WGBH reports on an audit of zoning-board decisions and members by a former federal prosecutor hired by Mayor Walsh after the arrest and guilty plea of a BPDA manager for helping to get a South Boston project re-approved by the Zoning Board - and that properties handled by former ZBA member Craig Galvin are now being scrutinized by the feds.
WBUR reports on the concern by Common Cause and a former state investigator general about four specific real-estate deals the station discovered John Lynch was involved with that benefited from a city loan program aimed at helping homeowners improve their properties, from the department where he formerly worked. Read more.
John Lynch formally pleaded guilty today to a bribery charge related to $50,000 he acknowledges he received from a developer in 2017 to secure a Zoning Board of Appeal vote the developer needed so he could then sell his proposed H Street project to another builder. Read more.
The Globe reports that William "Buddy" Christopher, who until recently had been ISD commissioner, is taking a leave of absence from his new job overseeing Methadone Mile while the feds and a law firm hired by Mayor Walsh investigate just how development projects wend their way through the city approval process. Read more.
James Christopher, developer Steven Turner and attorney George Morancy at H Street zoning hearing on May 23, 2017.
The Globe fills in some more details of the incidents that led federal prosecutors to charge a mid-level BPDA official, John Lynch, with bribery in connection with a small South Boston project that needed new approval from the Zoning Board of Appeal so that its developer could then sell the whole thing at a profit to another developer. Read more.
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