Kosta Diamantis’ second criminal trial delayed until 2027

A second criminal trial for Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis, the former Connecticut budget director turned federal fugitive, has been delayed until June 2027.

U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill held a status conference with federal prosecutors and Diamantis’ defense attorney on Friday morning to decide how to handle his second criminal case, in which he is accused of accepting bribes in return for helping to cancel a state audit into suspected Medicaid fraud.

Diamantis’s second corruption trial had been scheduled to begin in early December, but after he fled to Greece last month in order to avoid imprisonment, the parties in the case have agreed that the case should be delayed until next year.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Francis told Underhill on Friday that the legal arguments leading up to the second trial could change based on whether Diamantis is apprehended and returned to the United States before June.

But it was suggested on the conference call that the trial would move ahead regardless of whether Diamantis is in the courtroom or not.

Diamantis has drawn international media attention in recent months after he obtained a Greek passport and fled the United States to avoid being sentenced to seven years in prison for soliciting bribes from school construction contractors.

During his first criminal trial last year, Diamantis was convicted of 21 counts of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and lying to federal investigators, after the jury agreed that he used his public office to financially benefit himself and his family.

Diamantis is expected to face similar allegations in his second criminal trial. In that case, prosecutors have alleged that Diamantis assisted Helen Zervas, a Connecticut eye doctor who was being investigated for potential Medicaid fraud.

According to the indictment in the case, Diamantis pressured other state officials to cancel an audit of Zervas’ optometry practice, and later accepted $95,000 in payments from her and her fiancé, former state lawmaker Chris Ziogas.

In court records, prosecutors cited several communications they obtained between Zervas and Diamantis. In one of those messages, Diamantis asked Zervas to calculate what it was worth to her to “avoid criminal fraud charges.”

Both Zervas and Ziogas have already pleaded guilty in federal court.

Federal prosecutors told Underhill on Friday that they expected the criminal trial in June to take roughly a week.

Whether Diamantis is in attendance during that week, however, is still a question.

During his criminal sentencing hearing in September, prosecutors clarified that Diamantis had obtained dual citizenship in Greece, which could make it more difficult to extradite him to the United States.

Prosecutors said that Diamantis had been in contact with federal officials and had made plans to meet with a federal agent at the airport in Athens in order to voluntarily return to the United States.

But Diamantis never arrived for that rendezvous, they said.

Since then, Diamantis has conducted dozens of interviews with Connecticut media outlets, including the Connecticut Mirror, during which he has asserted that he is the victim of a political persecution.