Former U.S. Congressional Candidate Indicted for Federal Election Campaign Act Violations and False Statements
Per the recently released DOJ-OPA Press Release - and no the indictment is not embedded in the DOJ-OPA - the press release reads in part:
Abhijit Das, a/k/a “Beej,” 47, of North Andover, was indicted on one count of accepting excessive campaign contributions, one count of conduit contributions, one count of conversion of campaign funds, one count of engaging in a scheme to falsify, conceal, and cover up material facts and two counts of making a false statement. Das was arrested today and will make his initial appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Jennifer C. Boal at 2:30 p.m.
Abhijit Das biography
According to his LinkedIn Profile (which incidentally went tango down but I did manage to archive his profile)
Beej is the Managing Director of Troca Global Advisors, which provides legal and business advisory services to clients across disciplines. Troca Global provides solutions to critical and complex issues; achieving pragmatic results for clients based on years of multidisciplinary experience. Troca Global has advised clients throughout the United States and on cross-border and transnational transactions globally.
Prior to Troca Global Advisors, Beej was the President and CEO of Troca Hotels & Yachts, a boutique hotel company with multiple hospitality assets on two continents. In 2018, Beej ran for US Congress for the Third District of Massachusetts.
Social Media
Instagram @beejdas
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dasforcongress/
YouTube - this was his Congressional Campaign’s YouTube Channel -in 2018 he created a second YouTube channel BeejDasForCongress
How many companies can one person register?
Per the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ corporate database, (full disclosure some of the entities have since been “dissolved”)
Troca Global Advisors LLC, Articles of Incorporation Jan 2020
Boston East Tyngsboro Holdings LLC, 2019 Reinstatement
Boston East Brunswick Holdings LLC, 2020 Reinstatement
Troca Holdings LLC, Articles of Incorporation 2017
Troca Hotels Management LLC Articles of Incorp & March 2021 Change/Agent
Troca Tyngsboro Hotel LLC -2019 Articles of Incorporation
I went ahead and uploaded the “global” search I ran via the Massachusetts Corporation Database. Over the years he’s incorporated at least 21 entities. You’ll also want to review his FEC filings too - again I don’t care what political party you are affiliated with - if you’re breaking the law and engaged in a sweeping and a stunning amount of corruption (primarily self dealing) I have zero sympathy for you when you are indicted. No one political party has a monopoly on corruption.
Also Nice Boat or is it a Yacht
I am >96% sure this is the Yacht enumerated in today’s indictment - here’s why I’m that confident on May 17, 2019 his Instagram Account posted this
Troca One Yacht (in the Indictment)
Abhijit Das Bankruptcies
In December of 2019 Boston East Tyngsboro Holdings LLC filed for Chapter 11 -https://ecf.mab.uscourts.gov/doc1/094030820762 or you can pull down the Chapter 11 filing from my public drive — as the filing indicates (see page 3) he was in debt up to his eyeballs and that debt to asset ratio is pretty bad.
Incidentally his Chapter 11 was later converted to a Chapter 7 and today (yes the same day as his indictment was unsealed) the Federal Bankruptcy Court issued an Order to Sell https://ecf.mab.uscourts.gov/doc1/094132221551
Now that I think you have a sufficient background to understand today’s indictment in the scope and context of this background - it is abundantly clear what Defendant Das’ motivation was… he was broke and he decided that his meal ticket was unlawfully using campaign funds to unjustly enrich himself
Abhijit Das (newly unsealed) Indictment;
So let’s review the indictments because it’s incredibly interesting. For the record I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent—if you engage in criminal conduct. And if investigators can prove your criminal conduct that results in an indictment - I am completely fine with it - irrespective of what political party you are affiliated with.
SEALED INDICTMENT as to Abhijit Das (1) count(s) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5-6 via MADC-ECF - https://ecf.mad.uscourts.gov/doc1/095010620473
On page 2 of the Indictment you’ll note the various business entities and individuals who helped Defendant Das - hence why it was important to provide you with actual original documents concerning both this indictment and Defendant Das’ financial criminal skulduggery. With respect to some of the individuals listed regarding his failed Congressional Campaign, this FEC statement of candidacy will help you identify some of the individuals in the indictment
Furthermore this FEC link to his campaigns filings will clearly tell you who the Campaign Treasurer was and that person’s name is Sean Smith -
No really if you click on the FEC link, for example the Year End Report -the Campaign Treasurer is listed on page 1 of the report…
As I have previous mentioned—I have a nifty tool that is colloquially known as LexisNexis —I can type in a name or phrase and it will populate a list of Court Filings and/or relevant and reputable news organizations articles…it cuts my research time by at least half. For Example: this is also confirmed by this 2018 AP Article - which names Sean Smith as the Director of Operations - that AP Article directly quotes:
Sean Smith, director of operations of Troca Hotels, said the company is trying to make things right.
“We are aware of the situation and we’re working with the town of Tyngsboro to rectify it,” Smith said. “We really don’t think it’s going to be an issue moving forward.”
The following is a breakdown of what the company owes:
* 2019 real estate taxes: $49,388.23 * Tax title: $137,852.05
* Sewer: $15,229.82
Turning to page 5 of Defendant Das’ Indictment - in non-legalese the Government is establishing a time frame, and individuals and what role they played in this scheme.
As the Indictment alleges - Defendant Das filed his official FEC Statement of Candidacy Statement of candidacy 2017 - but it’s the Statement of organization 2017 | that list the Treasure - but the subtext here is that Defendant Das broke the law by asking for “excessive donations” - individuals (see FEC 2017/2018 donation limits for individuals)
The FEC 2017/2018 Contribution thresholds for individuals was:
During the current, two-year election cycle, the limit for contributions by individuals to federal candidates for the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives remains $2,700 per election.
Individual C $25,000 + $5,400
During the 2017/2018 election cycle an individual could donate a maximum of $5,400.00 for a combination of primary and general election -essentially $2,700 x 2 gets you $5,400.00 - as you’ll note the indictment (paragraph 27 thru 30) the Government not only has the email but they allege that individual C made an additional $25,000.00 donation which is in violation of Federal Campaign Finance laws.
Individual B $50,000 loan
The level of detail the Government proffered in this indictment is pretty amazing - here the Government cites not only a conference call with Individual B but they also proffer quotes from various emails. Most audaciously is that Defendant Das lied to Individual B - when he falsely told this donor that he had retained counsel for his Campaign and that “the attorney confirmed the legality of the donation” - here the Government disclosed that Defendant Das never retained counsel and that Defendant Das “acted as his own attorney”
Individual A $50,000
Again the level of detail and facts in this indictment are pretty amazing - here the Government proffers snippets from Text Messages and Emails from Defendant Das and Family 1 to Individual A - things you never want to see in an indictment; your name, exact dates and times and then the prolific use of quotation marks because that means the Government has documents, direct testimony and you are completely screwed.
FEC Receipts
In order to help you understand the totality of today’s indictment - see the FEC Report - you can sort the data by acceding dollar amount:
As further alleged in the indictment - specifically paragraph 40 the Government alleges that Defendant Das converted $314,500 in campaign contributions (and loans) to his personal account…
Oh and in case you think I’m wrong about the Troca One Yacht
Do you still think I’m off the mark about that YouTube Troca One yacht ? I can assure you that I truly triple check my research because I understand the responsibility that comes with “reporting” and that accuracy does not trump expediency… note the dates and the hashtags Defendant Das used in his Instagram post -like I said the hashtag helped confirm it’s the same yacht #trocaone
it’s the same yacht and that’s further confirmed by doing a simple search via the United States Coast Guard database of vessel calls - of which the USCG tracked two separate calls from the Yacht.
The Defendant tried to hide the true origin of the Campaign funds that he purloined and later used to pay back taxes owed, fees owed for his yacht and other personal expenses not related to his Congressional Campaign
Frankly I’m disgusted by this indictment- Defendant Das’ public persona especially his Instagram account shows him flaunting his wealth - all while he was using purloined campaign contributions to finance his extravagant lifestyle
I uploaded the Indictment to my public drive and I created a folder for Defense Das which contains nearly all the documents embedded in this Article. Now if you’ll excuse me- I have the sudden urge to wash out my eyeballs. And for the last time I’m not as partisan as some foolishly try to portray me as. I don’t care what political party you affiliate with but if you engage in numerous criminal acts and in a corrupt manner I’m going to be an equal opportunity critic.
-Filey
I wish I could say that I'm "shocked and appalled", but I'm neither. Politics has long been a dirty game, and I feel like "most" politicians "bend the truth". Some more than others, as we've seen the past few years. I feel like the level of audacity has increased a hundred fold. The more they get away with it, the more they think they're immune to prosecution. Jesus, take the wheel... Drive them to jail!!!