Former Connecticut official Kosta Diamantis sentenced to 7 years while in Greece

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A federal judge sentenced Kosta Diamantis, Connecticut’s former deputy budget director, to seven years in prison on Wednesday, even though he was not in court.

Judge Stefan Underhill also ordered three years of supervised release. Diamantis was convicted on 21 counts of extortion, bribery and lying to federal investigators, tied to his role overseeing school-construction funding. He was sentenced in absentia. He is in Greece, where he is also a citizen, after leaving the United States earlier in September ahead of the original sentencing date.

His lawyer, Norm Pattis, said he had expected a longer term.

“Seven years. I was certainly surprised it wasn’t more,” Pattis said. “Does it ever make sense to send a 70-year-old man to prison on a financial crime when he’s already lost everything? I have my doubts.”

Underhill did not add a further penalty for the flight. He rejected the claim that leaving for Greece was involuntary. Pattis said he did not believe Diamantis was in the right “state of mind” when he left, and described him as “financially underwater.”

Federal prosecutor Jonathan Francis told the court Diamantis had bought a ticket for a flight that left Athens on Tuesday, and that a State Department escort was ready at the airport. “He could have come back yesterday; everything was paid for, everything was ready. He chose not to show up,” Francis said.

Pattis said a 1931 U.S.–Greece extradition treaty, and Greece’s usual refusal to hand over its own citizens, may block a return. Federal authorities have tried to bring him back.

Diamantis has asked President Donald Trump for a pardon. A White House official told Connecticut Public the administration was not tracking the request and had not heard of him. Pattis said pardon decisions are often opaque.

In a letter distributed outside court, Diamantis called the case a “theater of political targeting” by Biden-era Justice Department officials and said he maintains his “absolute innocence.”

Pattis said the government will seize Diamantis’s house in Farmington. Children may use it until the end of the week. “At 9 a.m. Friday, title to the home will vest in the United States government,” he said.

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