CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Two Cheyenne residents will pay a combined $174,000 in fines and each five years of supervised probation after being found guilty of making false statements and wire fraud against the Cheyenne Housing Authority and taking Covid relief funds for personal use.
35-year-olds Sean and Victoria Madigan have now both pled guilty in district court. Sean, who pled guilty June 6, will have to pay $161,175 in restitution to the State of Wyoming. Sean and Victoria will have to together pay and additional $12,864 to Cheyenne Housing Authority after Victoria pled guilty Sept. 10.
The couple will also be placed on five years of supervised probation.
The Madigans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s District of Wyoming office, are parents of three who received housing assistance through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher via the Cheyenne Housing Authority. They also operated a coffee shop at the Cheyenne Frontier Mall.
According to the attorney’s office, the two reportedly used the same bank account for their business and their household without informing the Cheyenne Housing Authority of their business’ financial status. They also reportedly misused Covid-19 relief funds designated for businesses for their personal, household use, made possible by their combined account.
“Sean used the coffee shop to facilitate fraudulently receiving Covid-19 relief funds,” the attorney’s office said in a statement. “Rather than spend Covid-19 business relief funds solely for business purposes as required by the State of Wyoming grant programs, the Madigans spent a material portion of the money on household daily living expenses.”
Prosecutors maintain that failing to disclose that to the authority is a violation of federal law as need-based housing assistance matters are under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development purview.
“Some argue that white collar crime is a victimless crime, but that could not be further from the truth. We all end up paying when someone defrauds the government—the Madigan’s actions are an outright theft from American Taxpayers,” U.S Attorney Darin Smith said. “We are grateful for HUD’s extensive investigation which exposed the
calculated efforts of this couple to exploit government programs.”
Machelle Jindra, a special agent with HUD’s Office of the Inspector General, added that the couple’s scheme diverted around $300,000 that was designated for struggling businesses and struggling families and given by taxpayers.
“HUD OIG remains steadfast in its commitment to working with our prosecutorial partners to aggressively pursue those who engage in activities that threaten the integrity of HUD programs,” Jindra said.
