It turns out that Earl O’Garro, the man at the center of the federal grand jury investigation in Hartford, owes the state a lot more money than we first thought.
O’Garro is the insurance broker who took $670,000 from the city of Hartford to pay its insurance premiums, but then never did. He owes a lot of money to a lot of people, both business clients and personal lenders. He also defaulted on a $126,000 loan and grant from the state that he used to move the office of his company, Hybrid Insurance Group, to a downtown Hartford building -- 30 Lewis Street -- owned by city treasurer Adam Cloud and his family.
The state said O'Garro owes it another $264,508.01, money the state paid him just as his business was apparently faltering. The original loan agreement was for $500,000, but by the time of the default, the state had only paid O'Garro half.
According to the agreement, O'Garro's company had three years to hire 30 new employees at an annual salary of $50,750. The state said the money would also have gone to things like equipment, working capital, and development expenses.
Lastly, a spokesman for the state Department of Economic and Community Development said his office is referring both O'Garro matters to the state attorney general for legal action.
