Former CT lawmaker and deputy budget director arrested

Former lawmaker and deputy budget director Konstantinos Diamantis, who was at the center of a sweeping, nationwide investigation into school construction practices two years ago, has been charged in a federal indictment with multiple counts of bribery, extortion and conspiracy for demanding payouts from contractors he arranged to send to was involved in school construction projects worth several million dollars that he controlled.

In releasing the 22 counts Thursday, federal prosecutors announced they had charged three more people with the conspiracy – two top officials at Middlefield-based Acranom Masonry, Inc., which has done foundation work at schools in Hartford and Tolland, and the owner of Plainfield-based construction management firm Construction Advocacy Professionals, which worked at schools in Hartford, Tolland and New Britain.

Acranon President Salvatore Monarca, 53, of Durham, and Vice President John F. Duffy, 63, of Westerly, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty earlier this week to conspiring to bribe Diamantis. Antonietta Roy, 41, owner of Construction Advocacy Professionals of Plainfield, also pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe Diamantis.

The lengthy indictment describes the payouts in detail and includes copies of long text messages in which Diamantis threatens to take work away from Acranom if Monarca and Duffy do not accelerate payments to him totaling tens of thousands of dollars at a time when Diamantis was so broke that his checkbook was overdrawn by almost $300.

Construction records show how a former Connecticut official led a school construction project that is now part of a federal investigation

Duffy is Diamantis’ former brother-in-law. In text message exchanges with Monarca complaining about Diamantis’ demands for money, Duffy refers to him as “uncle.”

In addition to paying off Diamantis, Roy also made payments to his daughter Anastasia, who, according to the indictment, insisted Diamantis hire her at an inflated salary.

During the time he is accused of pressuring contractors, Diamantis — a former state representative from Farmington known as Kosta — was director of the state Office of School Construction Grants and Review.

In this position, he controlled hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds used to finance public school construction projects in cities across the state. Control over funding and the power to waive competitive bidding for contracts he deemed emergencies gave him the ability to dictate terms to municipal officials nominally responsible for the projects.

Acranom’s contract in Hartford was for Weaver High School in Hartford. The masonry company was awarded a $4 million contract in the summer of 2017 for one phase of the project. But less than a year later, according to the indictment, the Weaver project’s contract manager began complaining that the company was doing substandard work.

The masonry office countered with a claim for damages for unforeseen expenses in connection with project delays. When the contract manager denied the claim and told Acranom to repair its work, the company turned to Diamantis to “maximize its damages claim and minimize its repair work,” according to the indictment.

In a text message to Monarca, Duffy wrote: “Gonna make some money… He’s going to piss these guys off big time.”It’s his job and his budget.

According to the indictment, Diamantis organized a series of meetings and discussions between Acranom officials and city supervisors regarding the Weaver project. The bricklaying contractor agreed to repair what had been deemed substandard, but continued to insist he was owed money.

In March 2020, “at the suggestion of Diamantis and with his assistance,” Hartford agreed to pay $300,000 to settle Acranom’s claim. Because the Weaver project was 95 percent funded by the state, Diamantis paid $285,000 of the claim with funds from his Office of School Construction and Grant Review, according to the indictment.

Before the dispute over compensation and substandard work could be resolved, Acranom offered another phase of Weaver’s work. Although it was a low bid, the city’s contact manager rejected the offer because the claim had not been resolved.

Diamantis resigned as school construction program manager and was removed from a second position as deputy budget director after federal prosecutors served the state with a sweeping grand jury subpoena in October 2021 for records showing how hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on schools and hundreds of millions more in a plan to convert State Pier into an offshore wind energy hub.

The subpoena read in part: “Please provide all non-privileged electronic communications (including emails and text messages and all attachments thereto) from January 1, 2018 to the present, involving Konstantinos Diamantis and concerning: (1) the Planning, tendering, awarding and implementation (including the construction process) of school construction projects; (2) the planning, tendering, awarding and implementation of projects to reduce hazardous substances; and (3) the Connecticut State Pier Infrastructure Improvement Project.”

The subpoena specifically asked the state to find records related to Diamantis’ daughter Anastasia; a school construction consultant for whom Anastasia Diamantis used to work; and the names of school construction programs funded by the state under the elder Diamanti’s tenure.

One project the grand jury focused on was the emergency — which meant waiving bidding — construction of a $46 million elementary school in Tolland, a project that various local officials said was personally managed by Diamantis.

One of the companies Tolland hired without a bid was construction manager Construction Advocacy Professionals of Moosup, known as CAP and owned by Antonietta DiBenedetto Roy. Shortly before, Roy had hired Diamantis’ daughter.

One victim of the school construction investigation was former state Attorney General Richard Colangelo, whom Governor Ned Lamont forced to resign. Colangelo appointed Anastasia Diamantis, who worked for CAP at the time, to a patron position in the criminal justice department. At the same time, Colangelo lobbied Diamantis and the State Budget Office to approve a pay raise for prosecutors.

Colangelo’s appointment of Diamantis’ daughter became public when the federal subpoena was served on the state and Lamont hired former U.S. Attorney Stanley L. Twardy Jr. to investigate the circumstances of the patron’s appointment. Anastasia Diamantis was asked by Twardy, among other things, how she came to be hired by CAP. She told Twardy that the owner of CAP called her “out of the blue” with a job offer.

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