Kosta Diamantis arrested, faces 22 federal counts; 3 others charged
Dave
Altimari and Andrew
Brown
Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis, a former state lawmaker and
deputy budget director, was arrested by federal officials on Thursday and
charged with extorting contractors on school construction projects and then
accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from those companies.
In a 35-page
indictment, Diamantis was charged with 22 separate counts for extortion,
bribery, conspiracy and lying to federal investigators.
Citing emails and other messages, federal prosecutors
alleged Diamantis used his position as the head of the state’s Office of School
Construction Grants and Review to strong-arm contractors into paying him a cut
of the school construction contracts he helped them to win.
“This indictment contains allegations of a civil servant who
committed multiple felonies, including extorting contractors, demanding and
receiving bribes, and repeatedly lying to federal agents investigating his
conduct,” Vanessa Roberts Avery, the U.S. Attorney for the District of
Connecticut, said. “This kind of criminal behavior can never be tolerated, and
the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our investigative partners will work to uncover
it, no matter how long it takes.”
“The depth of deception, collusion and abuse of power by the
defendants in this case, as alleged, is glaring,” said FBI Special Agent in
Charge Robert Fuller. “The willingness to manipulate contracts and blatantly
steal by abusing a position of public trust is intolerable.”
Diamantis’ arrest, first reported by The Connecticut Mirror,
makes him the highest-ranked Connecticut official to face federal charges since
Gov. John G. Rowland.
The charges are the result of a years-long investigation
into Diamantis, who ran Connecticut’s school construction program and oversaw
other projects for Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration until he was fired from one
state position and resigned from another in October 2021.
[The
Kosta Diamantis Timeline]
Diamantis, 67, was arraigned in Hartford federal court on
Thursday afternoon, shackled at the hands and feet. He pleaded not guilty and
was released on $500,000 bail.
As he was escorted out of federal court, his attorney,
Vincent Provenzano, said it was too early to comment on the charges because he
had not had a chance to review the recently unsealed indictment.
Julia Bergman, a spokesperson for Lamont, said the governor
“appreciates the work of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal agencies
involved in this case. The governor has been clear that he has zero tolerance
for malfeasance and corruption in government.”
“The State of Connecticut and its citizens are the victims
where there is public corruption, and the governor will continue to support the
full scope of resources and investigative tools available to federal
authorities in rooting out corruption,” Bergman added.
Federal prosecutors have already secured several guilty
pleas from some of the construction contractors that allegedly paid Diamantis
for steering work to their companies.
One of those contractors is Antonietta Roy, the owner of
Construction Advocacy Professionals, who was charged with conspiracy to commit
bribery.
The other two were Salvatore “Sal” Monarca and John Duffy,
the president and vice president of Acranom Masonry, who were both charged with
conspiracy to commit extortion.
All three pleaded guilty to the charges filed against them
earlier this week, according to federal court records, but the cases were not
unsealed until after Diamantis was arrested at his home in Farmington on
Thursday morning.
‘An insult to my character’
A large portion of the federal indictment against Diamantis
is focused on his relationship with Acranom, a Middlefield-based company that
won school construction contracts in Hartford and Tolland.
Federal prosecutors alleged Diamantis helped that masonry
company to net those multimillion-dollar contracts with the understanding that
Monarca and Duffy would kick a portion of that money back to him.
The indictment repeatedly cites previously undisclosed
conversations between Diamantis and the two men.
Those records, according to prosecutors, show that Diamantis
worked behind the scenes to benefit the company and attempted to use the
relationship to profit from his position overseeing the state’s school
construction office.
The first school project cited in the indictment was the
Weaver High School project in Harford, where Diamantis helped Acranom to settle
a billing dispute with the city and to secure another contract in the late
stages of that $133 million project.
In one instance in January 2019, Diamantis allegedly
informed Duffy and Monarca that he expected to receive up to 5% of the contract
price that he helped them to negotiate
“Just so you both [know], I am very good at what I do, and
always do what I say. Johnny knows,” Diamantis wrote. “And I always usually
work at 5 percent of total. Just FYI.”
Prosecutors also cited similar messages that Diamantis
exchanged with the two men in regards to the Birch Grove Elementary projects in
Tolland, which was built on an emergency basis because the existing school’s
foundation was crumbling.
In that case, Diamantis allegedly helped Acranom to secure a
$2.8 million contract for masonry work on that school. According to the
indictment, he immediately began pestering Monarca and Duffy for $62,500 that
he was asking for in return.
Duffy pushed back and tried to explain to Diamantis that the
company had yet to receive any money for the project, but Diamantis repeatedly
insisted that he be paid before the work on the school was finished, according
to the indictment.
“I have negative in my account, 30 in my pocket. Tell him to
come prepared tomorrow. We talk and check. Thanks my brother,” Diamantis wrote
to Duffy. The indictment states that Diamantis’ checking account balance at the
time was -$276.68.
Duffy, who is Diamantis’ former brother-in-law, repeatedly
referred to Diamantis as “Uncle” in emails and text messages.
When Diamantis’ efforts to be paid quickly didn’t work,
Diamantis threatened to have Acranom removed as a subcontractor on the project,
according to the indictment.
“I feel like a beggar for what he should have thankfully
gave. Especially when we built it in. It’s like he is pissing on me and making
me crawl,” Diamantis wrote. “So here is what I will do. I will wait until
Monday for him to give me 40. If not, I think [contractor-2] needs a new mason
for Tolland. Then he will see how real the job was. I’m not a beggar, Johnny.”
Federal prosecutors did not specify which company is
referred to as “contractor-2” in the indictment, but Richard Brown, who is
representing D’Amato Construction, acknowledged that “contractor-2” was
referring to his client.
D’Amato Construction won
contracts for several school construction projects while Diamantis ran
the office.
“At this point, any interaction my client had with the
indicted individual was totally above-board, and they have fully cooperated
with the federal investigation and deny any wrongdoing,” Brown told the CT
Mirror.
Diamantis’ daughter
Acranom was not the only company to allegedly pay Diamantis
in order secure business on school construction projects.
The indictment also highlights a similar relationship
between Diamantis and Construction Advocacy Professionals, which is owned by
Roy.
That company served as a project manager on several
projects, including the Birch Grove school, Bulkeley High School in Harford and
New Britain High School.
According to the indictment, Diamantis pressured Roy to hire
his daughter, Anastasia, to work with the company. She was seeking part-time
work at $20 per hour, the indictment states.
Federal prosecutors allege Roy eventually hired Anastasia as
an independent contractor at $45 per hour.
The company then received a $70,000 consulting agreement for
the Birch Grove project in Tolland.
Following that decision, Diamantis allegedly solicited
another “donation” from Construction Advocacy Professionals.
The indictment claims that Roy responded to that request by
writing a personal check to Diamantis for $1,000 and a $500 “bonus” check for
his daughter.
A month later, Construction Advocacy Professionals got a
second contract on the Birch Grove project worth $460,000.
Around the same time, the indictment alleges that Diamantis
also assisted Roy in obtaining a $2.29 million contract to oversee the Bulkeley
High School project.
The bid submitted by Construction Advocacy Professionals in
Hartford was the third-lowest, but Diamantis allegedly convinced city officials
to hire the company anyway.
Diamantis allegedly helped Roy to revise her bid, which the
other companies did not have the opportunity to do. Even so, two other
companies still offered to perform the work for less money.
Less than a month after getting that contract, Roy offered
Diamantis’ daughter a new position in her company as an assistant project
manager.
Construction Advocacy Professionals also landed a third
contract in New Britain, where the high school was being renovated to comply
with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Roy’s company received $62,620 for that project, and in the
aftermath, Roy allegedly provided Diamantis and his daughter with cash and
several personal checks. Those payments totaled $4,500, according to federal
prosecutors.
The U.S. Attorney’s office did not indicate Thursday whether
any other indictments were expected, but it said Monarca and Roy have agreed to
cooperate with the government.
Mega-project planned for CT town: 450 apartments, 2 hotels, restaurants and retail
The Nebraska company proposing
a massive redevelopment of the largely abandoned Enfield Square Mall has
similarly ambitious projects under way in its home state and in Utah, where
local officials give it high marks for following through on its plans.
Woodsonia Real Estate Inc. wants to demolish Enfield’s
roughly 780,000-square-foot mall and build 450 upscale apartments, two hotels,
several restaurants and 165,000 square feet of new retail space.
It would call the project Enfield Marketplace, and pattern
it after similar projects: Conestoga
Marketplace in Grand Island, Neb., and Cache
Valley Marketplace in Logan, Utah.
The Enfield plan and Nebraska and Utah projects share
several commonalities: Woodsonia acquires a troubled indoor mall from Namdar
Realty and proposes tearing down most or all of the buildings to make way for
large-scale apartment complexes, new retail and one or more hotels.
Each project is upwards of $200 million, and in each
community Woodsonia requires tax incentives of more than $10 million to help
finance the deal.
“We’ve purchased several enclosed malls. We really cut our
teeth in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with a mall called Mall of the Bluffs. That was
a 350,000-square-foot enclosed mall, essentially the same story as Enfield: it
had completely fallen into disrepair,” he said.
“The enclosed mall business is really a broken business
model at this point. As we all know, e-commerce online retail is here to stay.
It’s not a fad and it’s had a huge impact on bricks and mortar.”
Woodsonia started its mall redevelopment work five years ago
in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where it worked with the home improvement chain
Menards to demolish the failing Mall of the Bluffs to build an oversized
Menards with other retail nearby. The mall had been owned by Namdar, a New York
company known
for scooping up troubled malls, cutting maintenance and operating costs,
and later selling the property.
Woodsonia last year launched two new plans with more
far-reaching goals. In one, it acquired the Conestoga Mall in Grand Island,
Neb., from Namdar and is currently tearing down most of the building. Woodsonia
plans 300 apartments along with a hotel and new retail including a large Target
in a $220 million project it’s calling Conestoga
Marketplace.
So far, Woodsonia has kept to its plans and its schedule,
according to Grand Island officials.
“My relationship working with them has been very good,” said
Chad Nabity, development director of Grand Island.
“They came in three years ago and said they had a deal with
Namdar. They’ve been doing exactly what they said they would do. In a year and
four months, they’ve renovated the part they said they’d renovate, they’ve torn
down the part they said they’d tear down,” Nabity said. “They’ve done the
drainage, the utilities.”
In Logan, Utah, Woodsonia last year proposed Cache
Valley Marketplace on the site of the dying Cache Valley Mall, another
Namdar property. The estimated $205 million project would include a 156-room
hotel and a nearly 350-unit apartment complex in addition to new retail,
including a large Target.
The work there is still in the early stages, but so far has
gone to plan, said Mike DeSimone, community development director in Logan.
“The mall has changed hands and it’s currently with
Woodsonia. They’ve pulled demolition permits, their timeline is to have the
site demoed and prepped by August or September to turn over to Target for
vertical construction,” DeSimone said.
“I don’t think anybody realizes how complex it is to
purchase and convert old mall buildings into something feasible. It’s not like
taking a 20-acre pasture and putting in a new building,” he said. “You have to
deal with access, easements, utilities. These guys have been able to pull it
off and there haven’t been any surprises yet.”
In Enfield, Woodsonia showed officials a rendering of
several four-story apartment buildings in a complex that would have a pool,
fitness center, fire pits and walking trails through the more than 70-acre
property.
Combined with the hotels and new retail, Woodsonia estimates
the project would cost $250 million. Enfield has approved a 10-year tax
assessment freeze and other incentives, and Woodsonia said it would seek about
$20 million in state aid.
Aquarion work on Greenwich Avenue causes road to buckle due to weather: 'Too much saturation'
GREENWICH — A section of roadway buckled on Greenwich Avenue
Thursday as a result of a water
main replacement project.
Aquarion Water
Company spokesman Peter Fazekas said the malfunction was weather related.
"Too much saturation. The concrete didn't cure
enough," he said.
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The problem arose in the late morning on Thursday. Police
said no injuries were reported but one lane was closed on the Avenue near Elm
Street as a result of the damage to the road surface.
Workers shored up the damaged section and then put metal
plates over the roadway, and the lane was re-opened in the afternoon.
According to a spokesperson from the Department of Public
Works, Renee Wallace, "The roadway sagging is a result of material trench
failure from Aquarion’s project on Greenwich Avenue." She said the
the Department of Public Works Highway Division worked to get the problem
resolved as quickly as possible.
Extensive
work to replace the water main under Greenwich Avenue by Aquarion
began in February, causing problems with noise and traffic congestion in the
area.
The banging of metal plates at the work zone on Thursday
could be heard blocks away.
"I'll be happy when this is done," said Ann
Spallone, manager of the Shoes 'N' More store, near the site of the work zone.
"It's been a bit disruptive."
She said parking in the area had been especially tight this
spring, and anything that took parking spaces out of commission caused problems
for local merchants.
"The noise isn't great, either," she added.
Parking on the Avenue in the construction area has been
restricted from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m., adding to the parking shortages in the
area during dining and late shopping hours.
The bucking took place in front of the Real Real store. The
water company is replacing replacing 2,000 feet of main under the
thoroughfare.
Traffic on lower Greenwich Avenue is also forced into one
lane near Grigg Street as a result of the water main work,