ABSTRACT

Konstantinos "Kosta" Diamantis, a former Connecticut state official who headed the state Office of School Construction Grants and Review, said in interviews with the Connecticut Mirror and CT Examiner that he left the United States for Greece instead of appearing at a federal sentencing hearing, and that he is seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump. Diamantis was convicted by a jury on 21 counts of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and lying to federal investigators, according to CT Examiner, following a trial the outlet described as lasting nearly two weeks. He was scheduled to be sentenced on a Thursday and faced up to 10 years in prison, CT Examiner reported, and U.S. District Court Judge Stefan Underhill rescheduled the sentencing to Sept. 30 whether Diamantis is present or not. CT Examiner reported that Diamantis said he had been in Greece for nearly two days when he spoke to the outlet by phone, while the Connecticut Mirror reported that Diamantis has given interviews to several outlets, including a Sunday television interview conducted by FaceTime and a Monday appearance on WTIC-1080 talk radio.

CT Mirror

Convicted former Connecticut official Diamantis says he left for Greece before sentencing and is seeking a Trump pardon

Sep 21, 2026, 4:58 PM

Context

According to CT Examiner, Diamantis maintained his innocence in the phone interview, described his departure as a "knee-jerk reaction" and said it was the only way to have his side of the story heard. He said he did not want to be in Greece under the circumstances or to have left his family and the country, and that he hoped the president and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., would reach the conclusion that he is innocent.

The Connecticut Mirror reported that Diamantis has a pardon application pending at the White House and has said he is trying to generate publicity in the hope that Trump will grant him relief. CT Examiner reported that Diamantis said he had hoped to receive a call from the president before leaving and was not certain his decision was the right one. Diamantis told the Connecticut Mirror that further allegations and evidence are contained in his pardon application, which he said is not public; CT Examiner reported that much of the conversation echoed a nine-page statement he gave his attorney, Norm Pattis, before leaving.

The Connecticut Mirror reported that Diamantis published a 10-page email outlining a claim that he is the victim of a "weaponized" Department of Justice and a conspiracy implicating the governor, three former U.S. attorneys and others. At the center of that account, according to the Connecticut Mirror, is his claim that he faced retribution for opposing a no-bid COVID-19 testing contract awarded to a company with ties to the governor's wife, Annie Lamont; the Mirror reported that the administration gave contracts to all four companies that responded to the testing request in the early days of the pandemic.

CT Examiner reported that Diamantis also questioned whether he received a fair trial and whether jurors had made up their minds, saying they deliberated for six or seven hours and could not have read all the contracts or text messages. The Connecticut Mirror reported that Diamantis said he was bitter that no mistrial was ordered after evidence that one or two jurors had read media accounts while sequestered, and that he described the government's bribery allegations as a public humiliation attested to in sworn testimony by three witnesses the government considered both victims and co-conspirators; the jury believed those witnesses rather than Diamantis, who testified in his own defense.

CT Examiner reported that U.S. Assistant State's Attorney Jonathan Francis told the judge that authorities believed Diamantis booked a flight from the Bahamas to London about three weeks earlier and then traveled from London to Greece using his Greek passport. Francis said Diamantis was on government watch lists but that the Bahamas flight would not have triggered an alert, and that Diamantis had booked similar flights to U.S. cities in May and September but never boarded, with the U.S. attorney's office never alerted to those attempts; Francis acknowledged the process needed to be reviewed for the future, according to CT Examiner.

CT Examiner reported that Diamantis secretly obtained a Greek passport and Greek citizenship that did not come to light until after the jury verdict, and that he told the judge he needed the passport for a land transaction in Greece involving land his father left him. He told the judge he did not have the passport and promised to turn it in later but never did, according to CT Examiner.

On extradition, CT Examiner reported that both Francis and Pattis said it would be difficult to extradite a Greek citizen quickly, if at all, and quoted Francis saying authorities assumed Diamantis was in Greece and planned to remain there, with possible complications involving the European Union. Diamantis told CT Examiner that Greece has a long history of not extraditing its citizens and that he was not hiding; he said he hoped to return to the United States and that it would not be in handcuffs.

The Connecticut Mirror reported that Diamantis declined to say when he decided to leave for Greece. CT Examiner reported that he would not answer specific questions about how he reached Greece or who may have helped him, saying only that as a defense attorney he had met people who could have assisted him, that traveling from Florida to the Bahamas was easy, and that he could not say too much and get people in trouble.

All Perspectives

Konstantinos Diamantis: Diamantis maintained his innocence and said he fled to Greece as a knee-jerk reaction because it was the only way to get his side of the story heard. He said he considers himself the victim of a weaponized Department of Justice, blamed what he called a cozy relationship between Gov. Ned Lamont's office and the U.S. Attorney's Office for a political prosecution, and questioned the fairness of his trial and whether jurors deliberated properly. He said he did not want to be in Greece or to leave his family and the country, that he is not hiding, that he hopes to return without handcuffs, and that he hoped the president and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington would conclude he is innocent. He declined to say when he decided to leave or how he traveled or who may have helped him.

Gov. Ned Lamont's office: Cathryn Vaulman, a spokesperson for Lamont, said Diamantis is putting on a show to try to win a presidential pardon, that if the media gives him the attention he seeks he should be held to a standard of proof, and that the media should turn down the volume of his public statements.

U.S. Attorney's Office / prosecutor Jonathan Francis: Assistant State's Attorney Jonathan Francis told the judge that authorities believe Diamantis booked a Bahamas-to-London flight about three weeks earlier and then traveled from London to Greece on his Greek passport; that Diamantis was on watch lists but the Bahamas flight would not have triggered an alert; that Diamantis had booked similar flights to U.S. cities in May and September without boarding and the office was never alerted; that he assumed Diamantis was in Greece and planned to stay, with extradition of a Greek citizen difficult and possibly requiring work through the European Union; and that the process needed to be reviewed for the future.

Norm Pattis, Diamantis's attorney: CT Examiner reported that Pattis said it would be difficult to extradite a Greek citizen quickly, if at all. No further statement from Pattis appears in the supplied sources.

Position not represented in the source reporting: President Donald Trump / the White House; U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C..

Where sources differ

The two outlets describe the length of Diamantis's written statement differently: the Connecticut Mirror refers to a 10-page email broadly outlining his claims, while CT Examiner refers to a nine-page statement he provided to his attorney, Norm Pattis, before leaving.
The outlets report different interviews at different times: CT Examiner describes a Friday phone interview in which Diamantis said he had been in Greece nearly two days, while the Connecticut Mirror describes Monday interviews and a Sunday television interview by FaceTime that was to air Monday night.
The Connecticut Mirror refers to a pardon application Diamantis has pending at the White House and to a 10-page email he made public, while CT Examiner describes him as having held out hope for a pardon while his sentencing approached and describes a statement given to his attorney — the outlets characterise the status and form of his clemency effort differently.

Gaps & Unknowns

Neither source reports any comment from President Donald Trump or the White House on Diamantis's pardon application or whether any action will be taken on it.
Neither source reports a response from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., which Diamantis said he hopes will conclude he is innocent.
Neither source establishes the contents of the pardon application, which Diamantis says is not public, or the specific allegations and evidence he says it contains.
Neither source establishes how Diamantis reached Greece, who if anyone assisted him, or when he decided to leave; he declined to answer those questions.
Neither source establishes the outcome of any extradition effort, whether Diamantis will return, or what consequences he faces while abroad.
Neither source establishes the substance of the evidence that jurors read media accounts while sequestered, beyond Diamantis's own account.
Neither source reports any response from the three former U.S. attorneys or others Diamantis says are implicated in a conspiracy.
Neither source reports whether Diamantis has appealed his conviction or sought other legal relief.

Sources & Further Reading

CT Mirror — original — by Mark Pazniokas
CT Examiner — by Dave Altimari

Read the original at CT Mirror

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