"Special needs agency under federal scrutiny; Grand jury seeks financial records" August 09, 2011|By Michael Rezendes, Globe Staff
Federal prosecutors have ordered a controversial agency for special needs children to turn over payroll records for longtime leader John B. Barranco, his former girlfriend, and more than two dozen others to a federal grand jury meeting today amid accusations of widespread corruption at the agency....
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More than half a dozen oversight agencies are now focusing on Barranco and his management of the collaborative and the Education Center in the last decade. During that time, Barranco’s salary climbed to over $500,000 while he paid his former girlfriend more than $300,000 and awarded high-paying jobs to close associates, allowing some to enhance their public pensions through alleged fraud, according to state Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan.
Last month, Sullivan accused Barranco of siphoning $11.5 million from the collaborative to the center, using the money to cover generous salaries and more than $50,000 in personal expenses, including high-end clothing, tickets to the Kentucky Derby, and improvements to his luxury vacation homes in Florida and New Hampshire....
The associates of Barranco cited in the subpoena include Richard W. McDonough, a lobbyist who was recently convicted on federal corruption charges with former House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi; retired state representative Robert. S. Hargraves, a personal friend of Barranco’s since the early 1980s who worked as a paid consultant for the center; and Laurence N. Aiello, a lifelong friend who has served as Barranco’s personal attorney and today sits on the board of the Merrimack Education Center....
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Related:
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State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump called for the appointment of an outside receiver to take control of a public agency for special-needs children after her office found that more than $30 million may have been spent inappropriately.
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WhereTF where they all this time?
