OPERATOR OF SOBER HOMES SENTENCED TO SIX YEARS IN PRISON FOR FRAUD SCHEMES INVOLVING SOBER HOME CLIENT, SOBER HOMES MORTGAGES, MASS SAVE PROGRAM AND COVID-19 BUSINESS LOANS

The following information was released by the U.S. Department of Justice:

The operator of numerous sober homes in Massachusetts, who also operated insulation companies receiving funds through the Mass Save Program, was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for his involvement in four different fraud schemes involving sober homes in the Greater Boston area, the Mass Save Program, mortgage lenders and a federal loan program that assisted businesses during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Daniel Cleggett, 39, of Kingston, formerly of Braintree and Quincy, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young to six years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Cleggett was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,856,329 and forfeit $1,544,185. In December 2024, Cleggett pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud conspiracy; one count of conspiracy to make false statements to a mortgage lending business (mortgage fraud conspiracy); 25 counts of wire fraud; six counts of unlawful monetary transactions (money laundering); and three counts of making false statements to a mortgage lending business. Cleggett was arrested and charged in March 2023 along with co-conspirator Nicholas Espinosa.

Espinosa pleaded guilty to his role in the fraud schemes on Oct. 3, 2024 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 22, 2026.

Cleggett was the founder of the sober home business A Vision From God LLC (AVFG). Established in November 2016, AVFG owned and operated sober homes in Boston, Wakefield, Quincy and Weymouth under trade names including Brady's Place, Lakeshore Retreat and Lambert House. Espinosa managed the day-to-day affairs of Cleggett's sober home business.

Cleggett, Espinosa and a sober home client entered into a conspiracy to defraud a New York-based family trust that was paying for the client's room and board at Brady's Place, located in Quincy. Specifically, Cleggett and Espinosa overcharged the family trust for room and board by up to $12,500 per month by submitting false and fraudulent invoices to the family trust. Cleggett and Espinosa would then issue "refund" checks to the client in furtherance of the fraud scheme.

From approximately October 2019 to December 2021, Cleggett personally, and through straw purchasers including Espinosa, purchased the three residential properties in Weymouth and Boston to use as sober homes. Cleggett, Espinosa and others submitted false information and fraudulent documentation including falsely representing that the three properties were intended to be purchased as primary residences when in reality, each was intended to be a sober home.

In addition to the sober home business, Cleggett operated numerous insulation contracting companies that participated in the Mass Save Program: Green Save Energy Corporation; Environmental Construction Objective Inc. (ECO); Green Giants, LLC; and Insulation Situation, LLC.

Mass Save is a Massachusetts public/private partnership sponsored by gas and electric utility companies that fund energy conservation projects and improvements via energy efficiency funds charged to Massachusetts residents' utility bills.

Specifically, Green Save and ECO received millions of dollars for residential insulation work from a lead vendor company under the Mass Save program. From 2018 through mid-2021, Green Save and ECO fraudulently billed the vendor company for required permits that were not actually obtained. Green Save and ECO were ultimately terminated from participating in the lead vendor company's program in June 2021, and Cleggett was banned from participating in the Mass Save program. In response to this, Cleggett, Espinosa and other co-conspirators formed Insulation Situation and Green Giants to enter as new lead vendors with the same company under straw owners. As a result, Cleggett obtained a total of $945,473 in payments from the company to Green Giants and Insulation Situation, despite him being banned from participating in the Mass Save program.

Additionally, on April 1, 2020, Cleggett submitted three Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications to the Small Business Administration for AVFG, the Daniel Cleggett Sole Proprietorship and Green Save. Cleggett obtained a total of $792,106 in EIDL loans and advances. In the applications, Cleggett falsely denied involvement in illegal activity despite his involvement in the sober home wire fraud scheme and the mortgage fraud scheme involving one of his Weymouth sober homes. Cleggett's Sole Proprietorship EIDL application was false because the Daniel Cleggett Sole Proprietorship did not exist. Despite certifying that EIDL proceeds would only be used for "working capital" for the entity seeking the loan, Cleggett used tens of thousands of dollars from the funds to pay for personal expenses including EZ-Pass bills, gym membership fees, pet expenses, airline tickets, car rentals, vacation trips to Yellowstone, Montana and Aruba and thousands of dollars in hotel resort stays for Cleggett and his girlfriend which included spa fees as well as a wine and caviar dinner, among other expenses. Cleggett also used Green Save EIDL funds for $37,997 in wedding expenses.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Kingston, Randolph and Quincy Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys and John T. Mulcahy and Dustin Chao of the Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit are prosecuting the case.