Longmeadow Woman Pleads Guilty to $20 Million Loan Fraud Conspiracy

BOSTON - A Longmeadow woman has pleaded guilty in federal court in Springfield, Mass., to a scheme to defraud commercial lenders by providing false and fraudulent rent rolls and forged lease agreements for properties located in Springfield, Mass.; East Longmeadow, Mass.; and Enfield, Conn.

Jeannette Norman, 57 pleaded guilty on Sept. 19, 2025 to one count of conspiracy to committed wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for Jan. 22, 2026. In May 2025, Norman and her husband and co-defendant Louis R. Masaschi were indicted by a federal grand jury. In April 2025, Masaschi, pleaded guilty. In June 2025, Norman's sister and other co-conspirator, Christine Gendron, pleaded guilty in a related case to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Masaschi and Norman were partners in dozens of limited liability companies, including JLL Realty Developers, LLC (JLLRD), through which they owned primarily commercial and some residential property in Western Massachusetts, Connecticut and elsewhere. Gendron was a certified public accountant and JLLRD's financial manager. Between May 2016 and May 2019, Masaschi, Norman and Gendron conspired with each other and others to fraudulently obtain loans for their companies from financial institutions and commercial lenders by providing materially false, fictitious and fraudulent financial information - including false rent rolls and forged lease agreements. After receiving the loans, their companies made some or no payments and ultimately defaulted on the loans, causing substantial losses to the financial institutions and commercial lenders. In total, the fraud scheme involved $62,232,000 in loans and caused a loss of $20,099,295.

The charge of conspiracy to committed wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss. The charges of wire fraud each provide for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million or twice the gross gain or loss. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven H. Breslow and Caroline Merck of the Springfield Branch Office are prosecuting the case.