Ex-Boston official agrees to plead guilty to accepting bribe

BOSTON – Federal prosecutors say a former official at the Boston Planning and Development Agency has agreed to plead guilty to accepting $50,000 in bribes.

U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling said 66-year-old John Lynch, a former assistant director of real estate at the Economic Development Industrial Corporation, a division of the city’s development agency, was charged Friday with one count of bribery and one count of filing a false federal tax return that failed to report his receipt of the bribe payments.

Lelling will recommend a sentence of 46 to 57 months.

According to Lelling, a Boston real estate developer agreed to pay $50,000 in cash bribes and a check to Lynch in 2017 in return for Lynch using his influence to secure a vote for approval of a needed permit.