Monique Brady at a resort. Photo provided by U.S. Attorney’s office.

Above: The Bradys’ former house on Lenihan Lane; it was sold in 2019.

By Elizabeth F. McNamara

Federal prosecutors are asking the court to sentence former East Greenwich resident Monique Brady, 45, to 121 months in prison, the maximum sentence allowed, for defrauding investors of $4.8 million in an elaborate real estate scheme that lasted years. 

“Such a significant sentence is called for due the insidious nature of [Brady’s] long-term fraud scheme, the unimaginable way in which she exploited close personal relationships to commit fraud, the devastating effects her fraud had on the victimes, and the need for just punishment and adequate deterrence,” reads the sentencing memo from the U.S. Attorney’s Rhode Island office. 

Brady pleaded guilty in July to fraudulently attracting investors, many of them close friends and family members, for large-scale rehab projects on foreclosed properties in New England. At the time of her arrest, she lived on Lenihan Lane in East Greenwich with her now ex-husband, Tom Brady, and their four children. The house has since been sold for just under $1 million. Tom Brady is a Warwick firefighter and has not been implicated in his wife’s crimes. He has custody of the children, some of whom attended East Greenwich schools until this year. 

Brady’s lawyer, Joanne Daley with the federal public defender’s Rhode Island office, is asking for a three-year sentence. Brady pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory two-year sentence. The additional year sentence would be for the other charges. 

The sentencing memo submitted on Brady’s behalf told the story of a girl born in Vietnam just months before the tumultuous end of the Vietnam War. Her family fled Vietnam when she was 4, eventually making their way to California. Her parents divorced and she lived with her father and sister in Houston and Virginia before settling in Warwick, Rhode Island, by the time Brady was in high school.

Brady met her now ex-husband as a teenager. According to the memo, she also started gambling at age 18, a habit that developed into an addiction over the next decades. Brady worked her way through University of Rhode Island, and went on law school at Roger Williams University, while her husband became a firefighter for the City of Warwick. They had twin daughters in 2002, a son in 2003, and another daughter in 2004. The memo stated that their son was diagnosed with severe autism and their youngest child suffered a stroke as a baby, requiring brain surgery. 

Brady said she took care of the couple’s finances in part to hide her gambling habit. When Tom did find out and threatened divorce, Monique promised to quit. She started her real estate preservation company MNB LLC, renovating homes in foreclosure, and it took off after the 2008 recession. The memo said Brady would sneak off to gamble whenever she could. At some point before she was arrested, she sought treatment for gambling addiction.

Brady said in her memo that she was “deeply remorseful” and she indicated a shorter prison sentence would allow her to more quickly earn money to pay back those she cheated. 

Monique Brady with NE Patriots QB Tom Brady. 

Federal prosecutors, alternatively, argue the depth of Brady’s depravity requires the strongest penalty available, calling her conduct “among the most disturbing seend in this District.” In particular, their sentencing memo noted how Brady “exploited close personal relationships…. One overriding theme from these victims is how close they believed they were to Brady and how much trust and even love they had for her before they learned of the fraud.”

They added, “With respect to Brady specifically, she spent almost all day every day for four years committing fraud. Fraud was her way of life. She is a lawyer who is obviously highly intelligent. She is also extremely charismatic and capable of getting a diverse group of people to trust her implicitly. In other words, she is extremely capable of committing further acts of fraud.”

Brady will be sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Court Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. 

You can read the prosecutor’s sentencing memo HERE. 

Find Brady’s memo HERE.

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