I’ve lost my faith in Boston’s federal court and U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz.

Yesterday, former Chelsea Housing Authority Director Michael McLaughlin pleaded guilty to shafting both taxpayers and Chelsea’s poor by knowingly lying about his salary, which ballooned from $77,000 in 2000 to $366,000 in 2011.

His motive, said his lawyer: money.

His jail time: possibly none, according to the plea deal McLaughlin worked out with Ortiz’s office.

Yet last month, computer prodigy Aaron Swartz took his own life after prosecutors in Ortiz’s office threatened him with multiple years in jail for downloading academic journals from an MIT computer system.

His motive: to make these journals available free.

His threatened jail time: up to 50 years.

True, if Swartz had cut a deal like McLaughlin did, he was probably looking at only seven or eight months. Then again, if McLaughlin fails to cooperate with the federal probe, he was facing only 12 to 18 months behind bars.

I can’t see the justice here.

I know, McLaughlin gets a reduced term for helping the government indict more alleged wrongdoers who may, or may not, include Lt. Gov. Tim Murray.

But how sleazy is this deal? Those willing to squeal on former “friends” get rewarded, those who don’t, do not. And those who refuse to plead guilty — because they believe they’re innocent — face bludgeoning, bankruptcy, hounding and harassment.

Recall what Harvey Silverglate, a Boston defense lawyer, has pointed out: The first indictment against Swartz contained four counts with a maximum sentence of 35 years. The indictment after Swartz rejected a plea “upped the ante to 13 counts.”

That translates to up to 50 years in prison and ?$1 million in fines, according to the congressional committee probing Ortiz.

Those familiar with the federal system say this is how things must be done: catch the small fries, turn them, and then catch the big enchilada. But perhaps these apologists have been in the system too long. They can’t see that things have gone too far, that too much wheeling and dealing sacrifices faith in the system and its very integrity.

This is hardly the first time we’ve seen such maneuvering around here. Federal Judge Douglas Woodlock, who presided over McLaughlin’s hearing yesterday, also sentenced Catherine Greig to eight years for abetting alleged serial killer Whitey Bulger on the run.

Meanwhile, Bulger’s former buddy in the Winter Hill gang, John Martorano, served 12 years in jail — just four more than Greig — and he confessed to 20 murders. That deal predated Ortiz’s tenure. But it’s in keeping with the mentality in the U.S. attorney’s office.

And I can’t see the justice in it anymore.