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The former Massachusetts senator, Senator Brian Joyce, who was facing criminal charges that he used his public service to run a criminal enterprise, was found dead at his home in a Boston suburb on Thursday afternoon. He was 56 years old. No criminal act was suspected, said a spokesman for the Bristol County District Attorney's Office.
CBS Boston reports that Joyce, a Democrat who represented the Milton area, was arrested in December 2017 and named in an indictment of 113 counts of racketeering, extortion, fraud electronic and money laundering. Prosecutors said they took up to $ 1 million in bribes for helping businesses, laundered money through his law firm and l '. have disguised as legal costs.
Joyce's wife found him dead early Thursday afternoon. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause and manner of death.
"We think Mr. Joyce was greedy, simple and simple," FBI Special Agent Hank Shaw said at the time of the arrest.
Joyce has been accused of taking part in a number of projects dating back to 2010 that brought him hundreds of thousands of dollars. He would have hidden the payments by laundering money through his law firm. Prosecutors claim that he also lied to the state ethics commission and used the panel as "a cloak of legitimacy for his corrupt schemes."
In one case, prosecutors alleged that Joyce had used his position to exert influence on behalf of a New York-based energy brokerage firm and had formed a front company to collect secret bribes from the society. According to another plan, prosecutors say Joyce has pressured the Milton Planning Board to approve a waiver requested by a developer, who gave a Jeep to a developer's car dealership.
Joyce pleaded not guilty to his indictment and was free on a $ 250,000 bond. A test date was not fixed. Joyce's lawyer, Howard Cooper, argued that his client was innocent of all the charges against him.
In February 2016, the FBI and the IRS attacked Joyce's law firm in the township. A few months later, Joyce reportedly sold his home in Milton and sold his family burial plot in Milton, where he grew up.
WCVB-TV reported that Joyce had been involved in a car accident on Wednesday, but it was unclear whether this incident was in any way related to his death.
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