Boston developer Arthur Winn fined $100,000 for making illegal campaign contributions
By Casey Ross, Globe Staff
Developer Arthur Winn was fined $100,000, but avoided prison time at his sentencing today in US District Court for illegally funneling thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to politicians to help get support for his ultimately failed Columbus Center development.
The sentence was far less severe than what prosecutors wanted: A $200,000 fine and six months in prison.
US Magistrate Judith G. Dein said Winn’s illegal contributions were serious crimes, but didn’t warrant jail time because Winn only pleaded guilty to a pair of misdemeanors for donations he secretly made to US representatives Michael Capuano and Stephen Lynch. Although he admitted to making $more than $64,000 in illegal contributions over eight years, most were beyond the statute of limitations or could not be prosecuted in federal court because they were made to state candidates.
Today’s sentencing brought an end to years of controversy swirling around Winn as the Columbus Center project became one of the most divisive developments in Boston’s history. Winn was charged with federal crimes because he reimbursed relatives he convinced to donate to his favored candidates, thus hiding the true source of the money -- a violation of federal law.
Before Dein announced her sentence, Winn, 72, stood and apologized for his crimes. “I broke the campaign contributions law,” he said. “I caused a great deal of hurt for my family and friends. I am ashamed to have reimbursed my family for contributions I asked them to make. I was wrong and of course if I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t have” done it.
The Moakley courthouse sentencing hearing was packed with dozens of Winn’s friends, family members and other supporters -- so many of them that the proceeding had to be moved from the initial courtroom where many onlookers would have been required to stand.
Winn left quickly afterward, but his attorney, Robert Popeo, said Dein’s ruling was fair given the facts of the case and Winn’s admissions.
“It puts to an end all the drumbeating about political corruption and influence peddling,” Popeo said. “That was never part of this case.”
Prosecutors did not comment on the ruling, but US Assistant Attorney Ryan DiSantis had argued that Winn should serve prison time for his offenses. which he called “an affront to our Democratic system.”
“Mr Winn’s crimes were deliberate, systematic and sustained over the eight years” between 2001 and 2009, DiSantis said.
The illegal contributions were made to an array of candidates at the local, state and federal levels as Winn pursued public funding for the $800 million Columbus Center project, which would have united Boston’s Back Bay and South End neighborhoods with a towering complex of condominiums, stores and a hotel. The development failed to move forward in 2007 due to financial problems in part caused by the spiraling economy.
Winn’s lawyers, R. Robert Popeo and Tracy Miner, had argued that a prison sentence for the former chairman of the WinnCompanies would be out of step with similar cases and that Winn should pay a fine of $50,000.
Winn, a long-time real estate developer primarily known for building affordable housing, began pitching Columbus Center in the late 1990s.
In addition to Lynch and Capuano, recipients of Winn’s illegal giving included former Governor Mitt Romney, US Senator John F. Kerry, US Representative Edward Markey, and disgraced state senator Dianne Wilkerson -- a major Columbus Center supporter who is serving a 3 1/2-year prison sentence on unrelated bribery charges.
None of the recipients was charged with wrongdoing.
Over his eight years of making such improper donations to politicians, Winn was successful in getting commitments for more than $60 million in state and federal assistance for Columbus Center. Because the planned project fell through, however, the money was never spent.
Casey Ross can be reached at
cross@globe.com.
