ELLSWORTH— A man serving a federal prison sentence for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Brooklin Boat Yard is expected to be tried in Middlesex County, Mass. Superior Court this week in connection with a $150,000 home repair fraud case.
Middlesex prosecutors said Steven Nygren, 55, perpetrated the alleged fraud between pleading guilty to the Brooklin charges in June 2017 and being sentenced to federal prison in May 2018.
Nygren has been indicted on charges of felony larceny, conspiracy and failing to file a tax return, in addition to the money laundering, according to the Salem News.
Nygren’s attorney, Steven Van Dyke, on Wednesday declined to comment on particulars of the case.
“We are beginning the trial today, and I would request the opportunity to reserve comment until the end of the trial out of respect for allowing this process to proceed in the court room rather than in the press,” said Van Dyke.
Prosecutors said Nygren and another man, Giovanni Nardella, set up a website advertising “White House Construction Inc.,” using stock images and Nygren began using an alias “Steve Roberts” all done while on Maine bond awaiting sentencing.
The men allegedly lured a Somerset couple into doing business with them. The couple made an initial payment of $45,000, followed by a series of smaller payments to Nygren and Nardella doing business as White House Construction, according to the Salem News report.
After a few months had passed, the couple began having trouble reaching Nygren aka Roberts, the paper reported.
Nygren’s business partner, Nardella, met with the couple who told them that “Roberts” had suffered a stroke and that he’d mismanaged their money. Of nearly $150,000 the couple paid, there was $4,000 left in the bank account.
Meanwhile, the couple’s home had been stripped of siding, partially demolished and gutted with no protection from the elements. So, the couple agreed to keep working with Nardella even though they would have to pay another $50,000 for materials already paid for, according to the Salem News.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation met with Nardella, who insisted that he didn’t know Roberts was Nygren. However, investigators said Nardella had sent checks from the White House Construction business account to Nygren’s wife, the paper reported.
Before the charges related to the alleged home repair fraud were set for trial, Nygren’s attorney, Van Dyke, had tried to arrange a plea deal, but prosecutors were opposed.
According to the Salem News, Nygren would have pleaded guilty to the home repair fraud in exchange for serving a two-year sentence to be concurrent with his federal time.
Prosecutors didn’t agree with the proposal, suggesting a 32- to 48-month sentence be served after Nygren completed his federal sentence.
Nygren, in June of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, had asked to be released on home confinement due to concerns of contracting and dying from the virus due to poor health. That request was denied.
According to court records, from June 2014 through August 2015, Nygren used his position as financial officer at Brooklin Boat Yard to forge 63 checks and embezzle over $732,000.
Jennifer Osborn is a St. Louis, Mo. native and has a bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
She has a husband and a 19-year-old son.
