It was a startling disclosure.
The jury’s announcement of its verdict is the most notable moment in any trial, but not at the federal criminal trial of Konstantinos Diamantis, the former head of the state’s school construction financing program.
Prosecutors made the disclosure to Judge Stefan B. Underhill shortly after the jury convicted Diamantis Wednesday of all 21 counts of a criminal indictment: Earlier this year, with the corruption charges pending, the defendant quietly obtained Greek citizenship, and somewhere there is a Greek passport with his name on it.
Unusual for a corruption case, passports and travel to Greece keep demanding the court’s attention. On Wednesday, Diamantis told the court he had no intention of using his Greek passport to get to Greece. The passport, he said, is to allow him to claim an inheritance in Greece.
Prosecutors, however, noted that it can be difficult to and time consuming to extradite a fugitive who enjoys dual U.S. and Greek citizenship, if he can be found. Greek law includes presumptions against extraditing Greek citizens, which Diamantis now is. They may have learned since then other ways to prove Greek citizenship than with a passport.
Prosecutors learned recently of Diamantis’ spanking new Greek citizenship and a passport to go with it, the CT Mirror reported Wednesday, “by monitoring unspecified communications.” Despite the alarming concealment, prosecutors did not request that Diamantis be incarcerated as a flight risk until his sentencing in January, and Judge Underhill permitted the felon to remain free on bond until then.
Diamantis was required to hand over to the court his United States passport when he was indicted on corruption charges in May last year. While the charges were pending, Diamantis asked the court three times for permission to travel to Greece. Each request was denied. The former Bristol Democratic state representative did not disclose that his recently-obtained dual citizenship, though the specific conditions of his bail require a defendant to keep in touch with court officials and report any significant changes in one’s life.
Two conditions of his release from custody last year were that Diamantis turn over his U.S. passport to the probation office and “not obtain a passport or other international travel document.” Not long after his 2024 indictment, Diamantis told the probation office that he could not find his U.S. passport.
Kosta Diamantis enters the U.S. District Court in Bridgeport during a break in his trial on October 16, 2025. Credit: Shahrzad Rasekh / CT Mirror
When he made his first motion for permission to travel to Greece a month after he was indicted, prosecutors pointed out international travel is not possible without a passport and Diamantis had told probation officers that his was lost. Hours later, they told the court, Diamantis reported finding his passport. Sometimes those prayers to Saint Anthony of Padua bring a swift intervention.
Now, though Diamantis did not disclose it, there is a passport somewhere that could allow him to gain entrance to the 27-nation European Union.
The 9-day trial revealed that prosecutors were familiar with the Diamantis method of extortion, bribery, conspiracy, and making false statements to federal officials. Shortly before the discussion in open court about the passport, a jury had convicted Diamantis on all 14 counts in the indictment involving false statements to investigators.
Diamantis had been a notably unconvincing witness when prosecutors had cross-examined him on what the defendant thought would be his epic, transformative turn on the witness stand. The incriminating voicemail to a contractor paying Diamantis bribes, the jaw-dropping text messages between conspirators, and the vivid testimony of others explaining how scheme worked told a story Diamantis could not blur with lighthearted or angry testimony.
The former deputy state budget director’s lawyer, Norm Pattis, said after the verdict that he thinks his 69-year-old client is facing a sentence of incarceration of 10 to 12 years. Diamantis is scheduled to be sentenced on January 14. Before that, the court’s probation office will provide a comprehensive pre-sentence report on Diamantis to Judge Underhill. The depth of a federal presentencing report is often the reason for the monthslong period between conviction and sentencing.
That January sentencing will be followed in February by a second Diamantis corruption trial. In the next one, he is charged with soliciting and accepting a bribe to halt a state audit of Medicaid payments to a Bristol optometrist. That federal indictment alleges that as the state’s deputy budget director Diamantis was able to use that powerful position to persuade the Department of Social Services to abandon an audit of the optometrist, Helen Zervas, in exchange for a $600,000 payment to the state. It was unheard of for a Medicaid audit, especially one revealing many violations, to end before it was completed.
According to the indictment, Zervas paid Diamantis $95,000 for his successful intervention. In February, Zervas pleaded guilty to making false medical claims, more than 300 to Medicaid, more than 30 to Medicare over a 40-month period. The evidence in this case seems similar to what the jury heard and saw in the school construction corruption trial: favors, demands, some Diamantis braggadocio, incriminating text messages, and payments by check.
Diamantis will not be a first-time offender if he is convicted in February. A previous conviction moves a defendant into a higher sentencing category for a second conviction penalty. Diamantis could face the painful prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison.
The Diamantis saga remains a trauma for state government. It has a corrosive effect on the public’s view of government and the thousands of employees who show up for work each day and perform their jobs honestly and skillfully.
Gov. Ned Lamont condemned Diamantis in a statement issued immediately after his Wednesday conviction. The governor, who promoted Diamantis despite warnings to his office, claimed to have implemented reforms in the school construction finance program. That ignores his administration blocking a meaningful independent audit of school construction and Lamont’s role in negating any oversight of Diamantis.
A jury verdict of guilty on 21 of 21 counts would normally bring a grimy tale of corruption to its conclusion. Not this time. Another corruption trial awaits, even if the defendant makes his way to Greece.
Before that, troubling questions remain from Wednesday’s post-verdict passport revelation, reasonable questions, considering Diamantis’ pattern of evading the truth. It would do no harm to call everyone to the courtroom and demand answers and documentation on that Greek passport. It would serve justice and might prevent an everlasting embarrassment.
Kevin F. Rennie can be reached at kfrennie@yahoo.com
