Ex-CT official Kosta Diamantis convicted of bribery, extortion

A former high-ranking official in Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s office was convicted Wednesday of multiple counts of bribery and extortion in connection with school construction projects.

Kosta Diamantis, 69, was found guilty of all 21 charges he faced, including four counts of extortion and four counts of bribery. The other 13 charges involved lying to investigators.

“It was a blank slate, 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 presented evidence that Diamantis solicited and accepted 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 that all payments he received from Acranom were for legitimate consulting services.

However, former Acranom executives Sal Monarca and John Duffy said the payments were all bribes for contracts. Monarca and Duffy had previously pleaded guilty in the case.

“You had to pay,” Monarca told the court. “John would tell me where to meet him and I would go pay him.”

Diamantis also used his influence to get his daughter a job at Construction Advocacy Professionals with an “inflated salary” then awarded a $70,000 contract to the company days later, investigators said.

“I paid a higher rate because Mr. Diamantis told me to take care of his daughter,” testified Antonietta DiBenedetto Roy, owner of CAP.

In addition to testimony from three admitted co-conspirators, prosecutors showed hundreds of emails and text messages, many of which showed Diamantis appearing to lobby for more money from construction executives.

“I have done my part, I need action,” he wrote in one of these messages.

Governor Lamont praised Wednesday’s verdict. He suspended Diamantis after learning of the investigation in 2021, and Diamantis immediately resigned. The corruption scheme began in 2018 and Lamont was not elected until the following year.

With news feed services