A former top official in Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s office was convicted Wednesday on several counts of bribery and extortion surrounding school construction projects.
Kosta Diamantis, 69, was found guilty on all 21 counts he faced, including four counts of extortion and four counts of bribery. The other 13 counts were for lying to investigators.
“It was a clean sweep, I was just hoping it would go the other way,” Diamantis told reporters outside the courthouse.
Diamantis faces a potential sentence of 10 years or more in prison, a fate his lawyer called “catastrophic.” Diamantis plans to appeal the verdict.
While working in the governor’s budget office from 2018 to 2021, Diamantis oversaw school construction projects throughout Connecticut. Investigators laid out evidence that Diamantis solicited and took bribes from a company, Acranom Masonry, to award lucrative contracts in Tolland, Hartford and New Britain.
Diamantis testified in his own defense at trial and claimed all payments he received from Acranom were for legitimate consulting services.
However, ex-Acranom executives Sal Monarca and John Duffy testified the payments were all bribes for contracts. Monarca and Duffy previously pleaded guilty in the case.
“You had to pay,” Monarca told the court. “John would tell me where to meet him, and I’d go pay him.”
Diamantis also used his influence to get his daughter a job at Construction Advocacy Professionals with an “inflated salary,” then dished out a $70,000 contract to the company just days later, investigators said.
“I paid a higher rate because Mr. Diamantis told me to take care of his daughter,” CAP owner Antonietta DiBenedetto Roy testified.
In addition to the testimony of three admitted co-conspirators, prosecutors showed hundreds of emails and text messages, many of which showed Diamantis appearing to press for more money from the construction executives.
“I’ve done my part, I need action,” he wrote in one such message.
Gov. Lamont praised Wednesday’s verdict. He suspended Diamantis after learning of the investigation in 2021, and Diamantis immediately resigned. The bribery scheme began in 2018, and Lamont was not elected until the following year.
With News Wire Services
