The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut has indicted the former executive director of a Connecticut public housing authority on nine counts of fraud and money laundering.
Robert Cappelletti of Middlebury, CT, was charged with committing the crimes while heading up Meriden Housing Authority, which served the communities of Meriden and Groton. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail.
Cappelletti served as MHA’s executive director from 2009 to 2025 and also served on the board of the Maynard Road Corp., a nonprofit that undertook redevelopment projects on the behalf of the MHA.
Prosecutors say that in 2022, Cappelletti took out a $16.2 million loan, alleging it was on behalf of the Maynard Road Corp., but did so without authorization from the MHA or the MRC.
According to the indictment, Cappelletti issued a promissory note on behalf of the MRC and guaranteed it on behalf of the MHA without authorization from either entity’s board of directors.
He then allegedly funneled a portion of those funds to himself through various accounts and shell companies. The indictment claims he transferred $450,000 of the funds to a personal brokerage account, used more than $374,000 on mortgage payments on his personal residence, and spent additional funds on credit card expenses related to personal travel.
To repay the loan, he then made a series of wire transfers totaling around $1 million from the Groton Housing Authority and its subsidiary LLCs, telling the Groton Housing Authority that the payments “were related to a forthcoming bond for a development project in Groton and would be reimbursed.”
To back up his story, he allegedly created forged invoices to the Groton Housing Authority.
“It has been a long process, and I’m glad we have reached the next step in allowing the facts to come to light,” Groton Town Manager John Burt told The Day.
“Mr. Cappelletti violated the trust placed in him by the Groton Housing Authority and the residents that it serves,” Michael J. Rose, an attorney for the Groton Housing Authority, which has since separated from the Meriden Housing Authority, said in a statement. “Today’s arrest and indictment begins the process of holding Mr. Cappelletti criminally accountable for breaching that trust and violating his obligation to those individuals who rely on the Housing Authority to meet their housing needs.”
Cappelletti was indicted after a joint investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. If convicted, Cappelletti faces up to 20 years on each count of wire fraud and up to 10 years on each count of illegal monetary transactions.
The former housing exec has also been named in a separate civil suit brought forth by the Groton Housing Authority.
A complaint filed in Connecticut Superior Court accuses Cappelletti and property manager Jamie Lee of fraud and conspiracy and violating Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Act.
In that suit, Cappelletti is accused of making unauthorized property purchases under the auspices of the Groton Housing Authority. Lee is accused of preventing housing authority officials from accessing her computer files.
Realtor.com® has reached out to Cappelletti’s lawyer for comment.