Former Connecticut housing authority exec charged with $16.2 million loan fraud

The US 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 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 US 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.

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