Boston, MA
Boston man who spent COVID relief money at casino, Saks, and Six Flags sentenced to 5 months in prison for fraud – The Boston Globe
A Boston man received a five-month prison term Friday for obtaining nearly $50,000 in fraudulent COVID-19 pandemic relief aid for his purported businesses, funds he instead spent at a casino and a Saks Fifth Avenue store, according to Acting US Attorney Joshua S. Levy’s office.
Antawn Davis, 40, learned his fate in US District Court in Boston, where he had pleaded guilty in June to wire fraud and making false statements, federal prosecutors said. Davis was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $49,999 in restitution and forfeiture.
In April and May of 2021, Davis submitted bogus loan applications for the Paycheck Protection Program, meant to help businesses hurt by the pandemic, prosecutors said in a statement.
“The applications contained multiple false statements, including the purported business’ total gross income in 2020, and the purpose of the loan,” prosecutors said. “Davis also submitted false tax records in support of his loan applications.”
Davis received nearly $50,000 in public funds, money that he promptly spent “on non-business-related expenses, including transactions at a casino and at Saks Fifth Avenue.”
Within weeks of getting the taxpayer funds, Davis “spent nearly the entirety of the proceeds on non-business-related expenses through a series of transactions, including for example, at Champs Sports, a casino, a zoo, Six Flags, and Saks Fifth Avenue,” prosecutors said.
“The defendant spent the funds on shopping and recreational excursions,” they said. “No portion of the loan proceeds went toward keeping a business running or employees paid.”
In a recent sentencing memo, Davis’s lawyer, John H. Cunha Jr., asked that his client be spared prison time.
“He is a 40-year-old man, motivated by his personal and professional responsibilities as a father of four and a chef, who has worked to turn his life around,” Cunha wrote. “He requests a sentence of 36 months’ probation, which is ‘sufficient, but not greater than necessary’ to achieve the purposes of sentencing set forth” in federal law.
“The seriousness of Mr. Davis’ offense is mitigated by his remorse and desire to pay restitution,” he said. “There is no need to incarcerate Mr. Davis to prevent recidivism.”
Davis had thought about buying a food truck with the money but “determined there was a three-year waiting period” for a city permit, his lawyer said.
“He then spent some of the money paying bills, including a car payment, but also frittered some of it away, including by gambling, a regular pursuit, although he does not believe his gambling is problematic,” Cunha wrote.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.
Boston, MA
Boston College Men’s Hockey Gears Up for Another Top 10 Matchup, The Rundown: November 19, 2024
The third-ranked Boston College men’s hockey team traveled to Storrs, Connecticut to face the UConn Huskies on Friday evening. After a sweep of fifth-ranked Maine, and with a matchup with the tenth-ranked Providence Friars awaiting, this matchup with the 5-5-1 Huskies was supposed to be a schedule break for the Eagles.
It proved to be anything but that.
After taking a 1-0 lead into the second period, the Huskies went on to score three unanswered goals in the last five minutes of the second frame to make the score 3-1 going into the final period.
Despite a three-goal effort from the Eagles, UConn was able to hold onto its lead and prevent BC’s comeback effort. The men move to 7-2 after the upset loss.
The road does not get easier this week, as Boston College now travel to Providence, Rhode Island to take on another top 10 opponent in the Providence Friars, its fourth top 10 opponent of the season.
The Eagles will be without their sophomore goalkeeper, Jacob Fowler, after being ejected and later suspended for throwing a punch after giving up the third goal of the second period to the Huskies.
Another sophomore, Jan Korec, will get the call after finishing the last 32-minutes against the Huskies. He performed well in the near-comeback effort, only surrendering two goals, but it will be a tall task in his first start of the season, on the road against an elite opponent.
Fortunately for fans, Tuesday night’s match against Providence will be the first nationally televised appearance of the season for the Eagles.
How to Watch: Boston College @ Providence; Tuesday, November 19th: 7 p.m. EST; ESPNU | Watch | Live Stats
No games scheduled on Monday, November 18th
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Boston, MA
Condominium sells in Boston for $4.2 million
A condominium located at 1 Dalton Street in Boston has a new owner. The 1,403-square-foot property, built in 2015, was sold on Oct. 21, 2024, for $4,200,000, or $2,994 per square foot. The layout of this condo includes two bedrooms and three baths. The home’s outer structure has a flat roof frame. The property is equipped with forced air heating and a cooling system. In addition, the home is equipped with a one-car garage, allowing for convenient vehicle storage and protection.
These nearby units have also recently changed hands:
- In July 2024, a 1,693-square-foot unit on Belvidere Street in Boston sold for $2,850,000, a price per square foot of $1,683. The unit has 2 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.
- On Belvidere Street, Boston, in October 2023, a 972-square-foot unit was sold for $1,400,000, a price per square foot of $1,440. The unit has 1 bedroom and 2 bathrooms.
- A 837-square-foot unit at 100 Belvidere Street in Boston sold in April 2023, for $1,150,000, a price per square foot of $1,374. The unit has 1 bedroom 1 bathroom.
Real Estate Newswire is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to generate analysis of data from Propmix, an aggregator of national real-estate data. See more Real Estate News
Boston, MA
More than 270 new homes approved in Boston this month
New development projects approved in the city of Boston this month will create an estimated 273 new homes, including 156 affordable homes.
At the Boston Planning and Development Agency Board’s monthly meeting on Thursday, the board approved six new residential development projects, some also include commercial space.
According to the board and planning documents, the developments will create about 241 construction jobs and seven permanent jobs.
Here are the projects approved this month:
20 Charlesgate West, Fenway
The largest residential development approved this month was at 20 Charlesgate West in Kenmore Square, where Our Lady’s Guild House lodging house will be converted into 86 affordable apartments by the Fenway Community Development Corporation and the Archdiocese of Boston.
The development will be made up of 22 permanent supportive housing units for people coming out of homelessness, 45 studios and 19 one-bedroom apartments. Twenty units will be reserved for households making up to 30% of the area median income and 39 for households making up to 60% of the area median income.
The project will also include a community room with a kitchen, an office, lounge, laundry facilities, bicycle parking and other resident spaces.
The 140-room lodging house was originally built in 1899 and the redevelopment will largely focus on improvements to energy efficiency, according to planning documents filed with the city.
Current residents of the lodging house will be relocated during construction, and five of the apartments will be set aside at below-market rents for long-term tenants.
279-283 North Harvard St., Allston
The Hill Memorial Baptist Church on North Harvard Street in Allston will be preserved as a community space connected to a new, four-story building with 49 affordable apartments for seniors making up to 60% of the area median income.
According to documents filed by the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation, the property currently houses the church and a two-story, single-family home, which will be demolished.
The basement of the former church building, built in 1903, will be used as community space. The development will also include a 2,500-square-foot courtyard and a surface parking lot with 15 spaces.
49-51 D St., South Boston
An existing brick industrial building and parking lot on D Street in South Boston will be replaced with a new, nine-story, mixed-use building with 70 apartments and about 1,970 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor.
While most of the apartments will be market-rate, 12 will be income-restricted to follow the city’s inclusionary development policy. The 70 units will be made up of seven studio, 32 one-bedroom, 29 two-bedroom, and two three-bedroom apartments.
The project will also create a landscaped public “pocket park” and add a new Bluebikes station on D Street, according to planning documents. It will include 70 indoor bicycle parking spaces for residents and about 15 visitor bicycle spaces.
691-695 Morton St., Mattapan
In Mattapan, a six-story building with 29 apartments and ground-floor retail space will be constructed on a currently vacant lot on Morton Street.
The apartments in the building will be made up of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Six will be income-restricted to follow the city’s inclusionary development policy.
According to planning documents, the project will include a roof deck for residents and a small parking garage with five spaces for vehicles and 36 bicycle spaces at the rear of the building.
Other projects approved this month
The board also approved two smaller housing projects in Brighton and East Boston.
The first, at 434 Washington St. in Brighton, will convert a vacant single-family home in Brighton into 18 condos with ground-floor retail space facing Washington Street. Three of the units will be income-restricted. The project will also include building new accessibility ramps for nearby sidewalks.
The second project, at 944 Saratoga St., East Boston, will create a four-story building with 21 apartments on a currently vacant lot. The apartments will be a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units.
The final approval at the board’s November meeting was a two-year extension of Berklee College of Music’s 2022-2024 Institutional Master Plan, with no changes to the existing plan.
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