Quincy real estate agent pleads guilty for falsely marketing houses that were not for sale

A Quincy real estate agent Friday pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to a scheme in which he received approximately $1.8 million by falsely marketing properties that were not for sale or had already been sold and stole deposits from potential buyers, officials said.

Michael P. Flavin, 38, has pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft and is scheduled to be sentenced April 12, according to a statement from the Massachusetts US Attorney’s Office.

Steven C. Boozang, one of Flavin’s attorneys, said in an email Friday night that his client is “a respected real estate agent as well as a coach and mentor to many athletes in Quincy” and his family’s business, Flavin & Flavin Realty Inc. , “continue to serve the community honorably as they have done for several decades.”

Flavin voluntarily gave up his real estate license and no longer works for the company, Boozang said.

“All parties have been healed and there are no outstanding casualties,” Boozang said. “He continues to have the unwavering support of his family and friends and takes full responsibility for his actions.”

Flavin collected bail on numerous properties not for sale, executed sales and purchase agreements and accepted deposit checks between 2017 and April 2020, prosecutors said. He forged the vendors’ signatures on the documents and cashed more than 60 deposit checks totaling approximately $1.8 million.

He faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on each charge of wire fraud. He faces a mandatory sentence of two years in prison, concurrent with all other sentences, up to one year of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine on each count of aggravated identity theft, prosecutors said.

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jeremycfox.