Sean P. Madigan and Victoria Madigan, both 35 and residents of Cheyenne, Wyoming, have been sentenced to five years of supervised probation for making false statements and committing wire fraud. Sean Madigan was sentenced on June 6, with an order to pay $161,175 in restitution to the State of Wyoming. He was also ordered to pay $12,864 in restitution, a sum that is joint and several with his co-defendant Victoria Madigan, to the Cheyenne Housing Authority. Victoria Madigan received her sentence on September 10 and was likewise ordered to pay $12,864 jointly with Sean to the Cheyenne Housing Authority.
Court documents indicate that the couple, who have three children, received housing assistance through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program while operating a coffee shop in the Cheyenne Frontier Mall. The same bank account was used for both business and household finances. The couple failed to disclose income from their business when certifying eligibility for housing assistance. Although their false statement was not made directly to a federal agency or department, it falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
After government programs were created to help businesses affected by Covid-19 restrictions, Sean Madigan used their coffee shop business as a means to fraudulently obtain relief funds intended for businesses struggling during the pandemic. Instead of using these funds exclusively for business needs as required by state grant programs, both Sean and Victoria spent a significant portion on personal living expenses.
“Some argue that white collar crime is a victimless crime, but that could not be further from the truth. We all end up paying when someone defrauds the government—the Madigan’s actions are an outright theft from American taxpayers,” said U.S Attorney Darin Smith. “We are grateful for HUD’s extensive investigation which exposed the calculated efforts of this couple to exploit government programs.”
“The defendants allegedly engaged in a complex, multi-agency fraud scheme that diverted over $300,000 in critical taxpayer dollars intended to support struggling businesses during an unprecedented pandemic, while also receiving HUD housing assistance through a program that was intended for low income families,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Machelle Jindra with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG). “HUD OIG remains steadfast in its commitment to working with our prosecutorial partners to aggressively pursue those who engage in activities that threaten the integrity of HUD programs.”
The case was investigated by HUD and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christyne Martens under Case Nos. CR-25-00030 and CR-25-00039.
