Former V.I. Housing Finance Authority chief executive Darin Richardson was sentenced to three years in prison followed by two years of supervised release after appearing at the federal courthouse Thursday on St. Thomas.
Richardson was first indicted in June 2024 for his role in awarding a multimillion-dollar contract to Island Services Group while serving as VIHFA’s chief operating officer. Richardson later received a $107,000 loan from ISG principal Morris Anselmi and recused himself from matters related to the company but continued to sign off on payments. Prosecutors later tacked on charges related to a home construction loan Richardson received from Banco Popular. According to a superseding indictment filed in December 2024, Richardson actually used the money he received from Anselmi and the loan to purchase a property through a U.S. Marshal Services auction.
He was convicted last year on federal charges including making material false statements to a federal agent, bank fraud, money laundering and making a false statement on a loan application. A jury also found Richardson guilty of criminal conflict of interest — a local charge punishable by up to five years in prison.
U.S. District Court Judge Mark Kearney sentenced Richardson to serve six months for the federal counts and 30 months for the conflict of interest count, which he described as particularly serious because it pertained to Richardson’s position as a high-ranking government official who was responsible for overseeing parts of the territory’s recovery from hurricanes Irma and Maria.
“I acknowledge that there’s things that I did and there’s things that I didn’t do that would have made this situation more understandable,” Richardson said, adding that he had “not one ounce of malice or intent to do anything that was unlawful.”
Richardson said that he would sign 50 to 70 checks — including the ones for ISG — at a time during his tenure at VIHFA, and he characterized the home construction loan as reimbursement for work he paid for out of pocket.
Kearney said that he didn’t think Richardson had tried to enrich himself but that his crimes came from a “sloppiness that borders on — and the jury found — criminal.”
Richardson was given until April 7 to surrender himself to federal custody.
