Taunton Property Owner Fined $1.7 Million for Misuse of Charitable Funds, Unfair and Deceptive Practices

BOSTON – November 11, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — A Taunton property owner has been ordered to pay more than $1.7 million for misappropriating charitable assets for his own personal use, for using unfair and deceptive practices, and for failing to comply with charity reporting laws, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today. He has also been barred from engaging in any real estate and mortgage lending transactions and from serving in any role involving charities.

In his 56-page judgment and order pdf format of O’Donnell Judgment file size 3MB, Judge Davis held that O’Donnell is personally liable for $1,285,300 in restitution, plus interest, for orchestrating “sham transactions” to obtain four real estate properties from two charities he created, Bay State Affordable Housing (organized to provide low-income housing) and Save the Star (organized to rehabilitate Taunton’s historic Star Theater). Judge Davis ordered that O’Donnell pay this restitution into a fund established by the AG to be applied, under the direction of the Court, to one or more Taunton-area charities.

This case was tried by Assistant Attorneys General Eric Carriker and Jonathan Green of Attorney General Healey’s Non-Profit Organizations/Public Charities Division, with assistance from Compliance Officer Sean Hildenbrandt as well as Director of Investigations Kevin McCarthy, Investigator Anthony Crespi and Former Investigators Monique Cascarano and Nancy Ward of the Civil Investigations Division.

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