Konstantinos Diamantis’ defense lawyer, who had been preparing to defend the former deputy state budget director at a second corruption trial, is asking for permission to withdraw because Diamantis still owes him for his first corruption trial, which ended in conviction in October.
“Mr. Diamantis has thus far not fulfilled his obligation as to services for that trial that has gone to verdict and has been warned that the undersigned will move to withdraw if the responsibility is not fulfilled,” defense lawyer Norm Pattis wrote in a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court.
Pattis filed the request to be allowed to end his representation of Diamantis in a motion filed Monday with U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill, who has been assigned to the second trial involving a scheme to kill a government audit of Medicaid fraud.
A decision on whether to allow Pattis to withdraw is up to Underhill, who had not responded to the motion Monday or indicated whether a hearing will be required, according to filings in the case.
Details about the fee payment were not immediately available. Diamantis could not be reached Monday and Pattis declined to discuss his motion to withdraw.
Diamantis was convicted in late October, after the first trial, of nearly two dozen crimes for using his position as a high state budget officer and director of the state’s school building program to steer contracts and collect bribes from builders.
Federal prosecutors disclosed the charges against Diamantis, 69, in the Medicaid conspiracy earlier this year while he was awaiting trial in the school building case. He turned down plea bargain deals in both cases and jury selection in the Medicaid case is now scheduled in late January.
He faces 10 years or more for convictions in the school case and as much again if convicted in the second trial.
In his motion, Pattis said he had been prepared to defend
Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis, a former Connecticut lawmaker and deputy budget director, exits the U.S. District Court in Hartford after being charged with 22 counts on May 16, 2024. (Shahrzad Rasekh / CT Mirror)
in the second case “if the obligation arising” from the school building case “had been fulfilled.”
“In the instant case, the undersigned contends it would be hardship to his firm to continue with representation to a second trial when the client’s obligations arising under the first trial have yet to be fulfilled,” Pattis wrote.
Federal prosecutors have begun preparing for the Medicaid trial, taking a guilty plea to extortion and bank fraud charges last week from former state legislator Christopher Ziogas who admitted his participation in the scheme to derail a government audit of his fiancé’s optometry practice by delivering nearly $100,000 to former state budget officer Diamantis
The guilty plea by Ziogas sets him up as a prospective witness against Diamantis, who is accused of arranging the plan to kill a state Medicaid audit of Family Eye Care, the Bristol business run by Ziogas finance Helen Zervas.
“Zervas knew that she had been engaged in a years-long scheme to fraudulently overbill Medicaid for medical services that she had not performed or that were not medically necessary, all in order to increase her compensation,” according to the indictment in the case.
After seeking legal advice and learning that she could face professional discipline or arrest, Zervas asked Ziogas for help. He turned to Diamantis, a friend and fellow state former legislator who agreed to use his position as a senior budget officer to neutralize the audit.
Diamantis received a total of $95,000 from Zervas and delivered by Ziogas in three separate payments, according to the government.
The state officials responsible for the audit eventually dropped it and agreed to a financial settlement from Zervas after what the indictment describes as direct and indirect pressure from Diamantis.
In May 2020, Diamantis and Ziogas delivered a settlement check from Family Eye Care for $599,810 to the Department of Social Services, which is responsible for administering the Medicaid program.
According to the indictment, three unidentified DSS employees were pressed by Diamantis to agree to the settlement.
Ziogas pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion and making false statements and faces a sentence of from 70 to 87 months under the guidelines used in federal court. He had previously pleaded not guilty. He was free on a $500,000 bond pending sentencing, scheduled for February 18.
Zervas pleaded guilty earlier this year to committing health care fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion. She is awaiting sentencing.
