A former top lawyer for the state Republican party has been charged with stealing more than a quarter of a million dollars from a political action committee fund. Michael Cronin, who was treasurer of the fund, and a trusted employee of the party for years, first confessed in December that he had been taking cash.
A probe into the case just concluded, with investigators claiming that in all, Cronin took $267,800 from the Senate Republican Leadership Committee over a period of more than ten years, from 2007 to 2018.
Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, who first made Cronin's actions public last year, became visibly upset talking about the arrest at a news conference on Monday.
Fasano said he once considered Cronin a friend, but he thinks he may now be looking at jail time.
“This is a person who is a lawyer, an obligation to the oath of being a lawyer, violated the fiduciary responsibility that I think holds lawyers out to a higher standard," he said. Explaining that Cronin had lied to authorities, under penalty of perjury, Fasano said he had hurt a lot of people. "I think he has to answer for that, especially when we’re talking about this amount of money.”
Fasano said investigators have not yet shared with him the details of how Cronin spent the money.
Cronin has been released on bail and will appear in court in Hartford next week.
