Former NESN Executive Arrested On Federal Mail Fraud Charges

BOSTON — A former New England Sports Network executive was arrested on a federal charge of mail fraud Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Ariel Legassa, of Burlington, CT, was a former NESN vice president for digital media already accused of stealing more than half a million dollars from his employer in a lawsuit filed last month in federal court in Boston.

The U.S. Attorney's office arrested Legassa Wednesday on federal charges of mail fraud claiming he pushed money into a bogus contracting firm he created instead of the actual contractor NESN had hired.

Legassa was accused of using his position to funnel $575,000 into a non-existent company he created called Alley CT, instead of where it was supposed to go - to an online consultant company based out of New York called Alley NY, the U.S. Attorney's office said in the complaint.

"Legassa misrepresented to NESN that Alley CT was part of the legitimate contract involving Alley NY. Instead, Alley CT was a company that Legassa created, controlled, and that had no real business purpose," an affidavit on the case read.

In a complaint filed on Jan. 7, the network that broadcasts the Boston Red Sox and Bruins said Legassa wrote 11 invoices from the fake company to NESN between March 23, 2021, and Jan. 6, 2022, when he was fired. The invoices totaled $625,00, and NESN paid $575,000 before discovering the scam.

The affidavit claims Legassa deposited the funds NESN paid to Alley CT into a bank account he controlled.

Legassa started working at NESN in September 2019 and was responsible for sourcing, supervising, and approving payment to vendors to work on projects for NESN.

On April 8, 2021, Legassa sent an email to an employee telling them to create two separate accounts for "Alley Interactive LLC" - one for Alley NY and one for Alley CT.

He said his reasoning behind this change was because Alley NY had "two entities working together but separately incorporated," the affidavit reads. "They plan to merge the two entities at the end of the year, and they asked me to please create a separate account and send payment separately until then."

Alley NY says they did not have two separate entities working with NESN and discredited that representation.

Patch reached out to NESN for comment but has not immediately heard back.

In a later email to the employee, Legassa explained that he would provide instructions on which invoices would be billed to Alley CT or Alley NY, court documents show.

The complaint says Legassa used the money to make car, tax, and credit card payments; adding that he admitted to the scam in a Jan. 6 phone call with a NESN executive and attorney.