Konstantinos Diamantis, Connecticut’s former deputy budget director, was found guilty on Wednesday of using his position overseeing the state’s school construction office to enrich himself and his family.
After deliberating for about a day and a half, 12 federal jurors found Diamantis, 69, guilty of 21 counts of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and lying to federal investigators.
“It was a clean sweep. I thought it was going to go my way, but obviously it didn’t,” Diamantis said outside the courtroom. “The jury clearly believed them and not me.”
Norm Pattis, Diamantis’ attorney, told reporters outside the courthouse that his client could face more than a decade behind bars, based on the federal sentencing guidelines.
“He is facing a catastrophic sentence of 10 to 12 years,” Pattis said, adding that he could appeal the verdict.
Diamantis will remain free on bond until his sentencing hearing, which is set for Jan. 14.
Diamantis left the court building without further addressing reporters and drove off in a white pickup truck with his daughter.
Federal prosecutors told the judge that remaining out of prison would allow Diamantis to meet with his defense attorney in preparation for a second federal bribery trial, which is currently expected to start in February.
Prosecutors, however, told U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill that they recently learned that Diamantis was attempting to obtain a Greek passport by monitoring unspecified communications.
Underhill asked Diamantis to explain if that was true, and he told the judge that he had recently obtained duel citizenship in Greece and a Greek passport. But he said he applied for the passport in order to claim a piece of property in Greece that his father had inherited.
He also told the judge that his passport was sent to Greece to facilitate that property transfer.
Prosecutors did not answer questions as they left the courthouse.
The jury delivered its verdict after a nine-day trial, during which federal prosecutors presented a mountain of evidence that showed Diamantis negotiated payments from Acranom Masonry and a $45-per-hour job for his daughter with Construction Advocacy Professionals.
Several witnesses told the jury that Diamantis used his influence at the state’s school building office to help those companies win lucrative construction contracts on several projects in Tolland, Hartford and New Britain.
Diamantis, who chose to testify in his own defense, admitted to the jury that he accepted tens of thousands of dollars from Acranom, and he acknowledged that his daughter, Anastasia, was hired by Construction Advocacy Professionals after consulting with him.
But Diamantis, who once held one of the highest-ranking positions in the state government, was adamant during the trial that he never used his public office to help the two companies gain an upper hand on school construction projects.
By Diamantis’ telling, the tens of thousands of dollars in cash that Acranom’s executives paid to him was for an introduction to another firm: D’Amato Construction. And the paychecks and bonuses that were paid to his daughter had nothing to do with his position overseeing the state’s school building program.
That testimony was contradicted during the trial, however, by three separate witnesses who have previously pleaded guilty to bribing Diamantis in return for work on school construction projects.
Sal Monarca and John Duffy, the president and vice president of Acranom Masonry, told the jury how they delivered envelopes of cash to Diamantis at his home, at a Dunkin’ Donuts and several times at the Capital Grille in Hartford.
Antonietta DiBenedetto Roy, the owner of Construction Advocacy Professionals, also explained to jurors how she chose to pay Diamantis’ daughter to keep him happy.
Federal prosecutors bolstered the testimony of those three witnesses with a large number of text messages, emails and one colorful voicemail, in which Diamantis discussed a bid that Acranom submitted for a school project and the $40,000 he was demanding from the company.
“I didn’t ask for the maximum. I asked for the minimum of what we bid,” Diamantis told Duffy in that voicemail. “So. That’s more than reasonable. I even asked for less than that. I asked for forty.”
The long list of text messages that jurors were shown included memorable details about how Duffy and Monarca referred to the bribes to Diamantis as “pints” and “birthday cards.” The texts also included several examples where Diamantis directly intervened in school projects on behalf of Acranom and Construction Advocacy Professionals.
“The defendant had his thumb on the scale for Acranom, because that is what Acranom paid for,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David Novick, told the jury during the closing arguments.
The federal prosecutors also featured text messages in which Diamantis threatened to remove the contractors from the local school projects if he didn’t receive the money they promised him.
“I will wait til Monday for him to give you 40. If not, then I think D’Amato needs a new mason for Tolland then he will see how real the job was,” Diamantis said, referring to the Birch Grove project where Acranom was working.
The evidence and testimony presented during the trial also highlighted for jurors how Diamantis forced the contractors to change how much they were bidding on the school contracts in order to factor his bribes.
“Doesn’t matter end of day you gone add 70,” Diamantis told Acranom.
There was far less documentary evidence presented at trial about the payments that Construction Advocacy Professionals paid to Diamantis and his daughter. But the records that did exist were highly damaging to the defense.
While he was on the witness stand, Diamantis claimed he did not have a hand in negotiating the compensation that his daughter received from the company.
But text messages between Diamantis and his daughter showed otherwise. In one exchange, Diamantis told his daughter that she would receive a percentage of the money that Construction Advocacy Professionals had been awarded for a school construction project.
“You happy,” Diamantis asked his daughter.
“Yes of course! I can pay my car taxes and a credit card!” she responded.
The three contractors who bribed Diamantis told the jury he demanded money on a monthly or weekly basis and made his situation seem desperate.
Diamantis complained in the texts and the voicemail about not having enough money to pay his mortgage or to afford his daughters’ wedding and private school tuition.
In one text exchange, Acranom officials said Diamantis wanted to collect an “annual fee” from the company for serving as a consultant.
Diamantis admitted that he told Acranom’s executives that. But he told jurors that it was a “tongue in cheek” comment. He said the same of several other texts that he couldn’t readily explain.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
