Global Courant 2023-05-31 09:28:20
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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A former Connecticut state representative will be convicted Wednesday of stealing more than $1.2 million from the city of West Haven — most of it in federal coronavirus-related aid — and using much of it to feed his gambling addiction.
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Michael DiMassa, 32, a West Haven Democrat, could face more than four years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. He asks Judge Omar Williams for clemency.
“Mr. DiMassa was suffering from a debilitating gambling addiction at the time of the offense,” his attorney, John Gulash, wrote in a lawsuit, “and his essentially unfettered access to a deep pool of federal funds and total lack of impulse control facilitated his steep downward spiral. spiral.”
The attorney compared DiMassa to Howard Ratner, the gambler played by Adam Sandler in the movie “Uncut Gems.” He said he bet on things as frivolous as how long it would take for the national anthem to perform in the Super Bowl, or what color of Gatorade would be poured on the winning coach.
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He did much of his gambling and gambling at the Mohegan Sun casino in eastern Connecticut.
At the time of the thefts, which began in mid-2020, DiMassa was both a state representative and an employee of the West Haven City Council with the authority to approve reimbursements for coronavirus-related expenses. He pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud conspiracy in November and admitted that he and others billed West Haven for legal, lobbying and consulting services that were never rendered.
DiMassa and a business associate, John Bernardo, also a former employee of the City of West Haven, stole nearly $637,000, prosecutors said.
Bernardo pleaded guilty to telephony fraud and was sentenced to 13 months in prison in March.
In a second scheme, DiMassa and another business owner, John Trasacco, conspired to submit fraudulent invoices from Trasacco’s businesses to the city, raising nearly $432,000 in COVID-19 relief, nearly all of which went to Trasacco. Trasacco was sentenced to eight years in prison in March after a jury convicted him of fraud.
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The latest conspiracy involved DiMassa and his wife, Lauren DiMassa, and the theft of nearly $148,000, authorities said. The couple filed bogus requests for city payments related to a youth violence prevention program. The stolen funds were not federal coronavirus aid.
Lauren DiMassa, who is pregnant with the couple’s second child, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to six months in prison in March. She recently reported to prison.
Federal prosecutors are seeking jail time within federal guidelines for Michael DiMassa and want the judge to order him to pay more than $1 million in restitution to West Haven.
“The defendant was a government official chosen to serve his constituents,” the prosecutors wrote in their sentencing documents. “Instead, he has completely betrayed that trust by stealing public funds for his own benefit.”
DiMassa resigned from the legislature and the city of West Haven following his 2021 arrest.
He has cited several reasons for leniency, including lack of a previous criminal record, his testicular cancer and the ability to care for his children.
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