Diamantis was defiant outside court, accusing star witnesses of trying to frame him, as jurors began deliberating in his bribery and extortion case.
After a four-year investigation and a nine-day criminal trial, a dozen jurors are now deciding the fate of Kosta Diamantis. The former top state budget deputy faces decades in prison for bribery, extortion, conspiracy and lying to the FBI.
As jurors began deliberating, a defiant Diamantis accused witnesses in the case of offering “multiple stories” to investigators.The jury got Diamantis’ case late Monday afternoon, after hearing two hours of closing arguments. He is accused of using his position as the state’s head of school construction to demand kickbacks from contractors. “The defendant was a corrupt public official,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Francis told jurors. Prosecutors reviewed dozens of text messages between Diamantis and Acranom Masonry, including one reading, “I am very good at what I do ... and I always usually work at a five percent of total, just FYI.” “The defendant had his thumb on the scale for Acranom because that’s what Acranom was paying him for,” Francis said.to introduce the masonry company to a general contractor. Diamantis is also accused of taking bribes from another contractor, Construction Advocacy Professionals. CAP owner Antonietta Roy testified that she hired Diamantis’ daughter – who had no construction experience – at a $45 an hour salary because Diamantis said, “Take care of my daughter.”CAP was paid $2.2 million to serve as a construction administrator for projects in Tolland and Hartford. Tolland’s school superintendent told jurors that Diamantis told him to “just get out of the way” and hire Roy – even though the district already had someone doing that work. “I didn’t feel like I had any practical choice,” Dr. Walter Willett testified. “There are people who felt like they could probably do that work.”Outside the federal courthouse in Bridgeport, Diamantis downplayed the significance of the text messages. “You want me to review a thousand texts that I never erased because I never thought they were important enough to erase for any reason whatsoever?” he told reporters. “And you’re missing the hundreds of phone calls between us over the course of the years.”Three contractors all testified that Diamantis demanded money in exchange for help getting school construction jobs. "Without Kosta’s involvement or influence, we probably wouldn’t have got that job,” former Acranom vice president John DuffyBut Diamantis insisted that Duffy was actually shaking him down – not the way around – and noted that all three contractors originally told federal agents they never bribed him. “They had multiple stories, multiple statements that were made,” he said. “The first ones they made were the truth. Later, it got changed.”“You don’t need to like Mr. Diamantis to follow the law … if you reject substantial parts of his testimony,” defense attorney Norm Pattis told them. Pattis insisted that the consulting fees were legal – and that prosecutors had not proven the alleged crime interfered with interstate commerce, a necessary element for federal crimes. “Two out of three might be good enough for a rock star, Meatloaf” but it’s not good enough for a guilty verdict, he said.Jurors will resume deliberations on Tuesday morning. If they convict Diamantis on all 21 counts, he faces up to 20 years in prison. Outside of court, Diamantis remained confident in an acquittal. “If you’re asking me, would I do it again? No, I wouldn't,” he said. “Is what I did was illegal? The answer is, absolutely not.”
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