DeFilippo, Ex-Bridgeport Councilman, Pleads Guilty In Election Case

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A 37-year-old former Bridgeport City Councilman pleaded guilty Monday to a civil rights offense related to his run for the city council in 2017 and 2018, announced U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery and Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Michael DeFilippo pleaded guilty to a charge of deprivation of rights under color of law before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven, and at his sentencing DeFilippo faces a possible year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

DeFilippo is currently free on bond, and his sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

According to court documents and statements, DeFilippo served on the council from June 2018 until July 2021, representing the 133rd District, which is near the Sacred Heart University campus. DeFilippo owned several rental properties that he leased to students at Sacred Heart University. Although Bridgeport’s City Council elections are typically held in odd-numbered years, because of repeated absentee ballot irregularities in the Democratic primary for the 133rd District, the September 2017 primary was re-run in November 2017, and re-run again in April 2018, and the general election took place in June 2018. On April 10, 2018, DeFilippo was selected as one of the two Democratic nominees for the 133rd District and, on June 26, 2018, he was elected to the Bridgeport City Council.

In the 2017 and 2018 primaries and the 2018 general election, DeFilippo stole and falsified Voter Registration Applications and absentee balloting documents, forged signatures, and submitted fraudulent election documents to election officials in the name of some of his tenants who resided in the 133rd District, according to prosecutors.

"DeFilippo’s conduct caused Bridgeport and Connecticut election officials acting under color of law to deprive DeFilippo’s tenants of their right to vote (by counting stolen ballots), and to deprive all 133rd District voters of their right to have their votes fully counted (by diluting election results with fraudulent registrations and ballots)," Avery and Fuller said in a statement.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan N. Francis and Heather L. Cherry.