Can the feds bring Kosta Diamantis back to CT? Experts say yes, but it could take months
The former state budget deputy fled to Greece to avoid a potential 12-year prison sentence. He's a dual citizen of Greecebut extradition experts there don't think it will help him.
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Leonardo DiCaprio's box office hit, "Catch Me If You Can," is playing out in Connecticut after Gov. Ned Lamont’s former budget deputy fled to Greece to avoid a potential 12-year prison sentence for bribery and extortion.
So can the feds get him back?
Extradition experts say yes – but it could be a lengthy process.
GONE FOR GOOD?
It was a daring escape.
Federal prosecutors say Diamantis drove to Florida three weeks ago, hopped a boat to the Bahamas, then flew to London – all using a newly-obtained Greek passport.
Diamantis’ attorney believes his dual citizenship will make it hard for federal authorities to get him back.
“One hundred percent that they’re going to try; 10% that they succeed,” attorney Norm Pattis told reporters. “Greece takes a hard-line position on the extradition of its citizens. The government’s going to have to persuade Greek authorities that actually covers Mr. Diamantis. I’m not sure they can do that. ”
But experts in Greece said Diamantis can’t hide behind his new citizenship.
“The nationality bar applies only in cases where the individual had acquired the Greek citizenship before the commission of the offense,” veteran extradition attorney Ilias Anagnostopoulos told News 12. “So it wouldn't help for someone to become Greek afterwards, yeah? Only for offenses he will commit in the future.”
POLITICAL PRISONER?
But there’s another caveat. Greece’s nearly century-old extradition treaty bars extradition for crimes that are “political, military, tax-related or related to the press.”
Anagnostopoulos said it’s a very high threshold to meet.
“It will be rarely admitted by courts, especially in cases where the requesting state is a democracy,” he said. “It is one thing to claim that you are a Putin regime enemy or, I don’t know, North Korea” but “it is a different thing to say you are politically persecuted in countries like the U.S.”
Last fall, a jury convicted Diamantis of shaking down contractors for multi-million-dollar school projects, including schools in Hartford and Tolland. He faces a second bribery trial in December related to a Medicaid audit.
Diamantis claimed his prosecution was a political conspiracy from the Lamont administration in a rambling 10-page email to Pattis. He made similar claims in a federal pardon application.
“The entire investigation was a politically insulated script written by Lamont, Connecticut DOJ and Connecticut tight knit legal aristocracy hired by Lamont to protect himself and his family from scrutiny and ensure I would be discredited,” the email said.
WIND DOWN THE CLOCK?
Diamantis may not be able to hide forever, but the 70-year-old can run down the clock.
Once the U.S. issues a “Red Notice” to INTERPOL, the FBI and State Department will coordinate with Greek authorities to track Diamantis down and arrest him.
“While the FBI cannot do investigations on its own in Greece, it can do so through the legal attaché, which is an FBI employee working with the national police there,” said Ken Gray, a former FBI counterterrorism agent who now teaches at the University of New Haven. “This is a months-type operation, and it may be longer.”
Anagnostopoulos said the extradition process typically takes several months.
Within two months of being located, Diamantis will get an extradition hearing. But he can appeal to Areios Pagos, Greece’s highest civil court, which can add another three months. Finally, the country’s Minister of Justice must sign-off.
Gray said Diamantis may have traded one jail cell for another one.
“He will be arrested there in Greece and held in a Greek jail while this extradition process goes forward,” he said.
“I HAD TO LEAVE”
Diamantis did not return calls and texts from News 12, but he did speak to CT Examiner investigative reporter Dave Altimari on Friday.
“I kept hoping I’d receive a call from the president, and when I hadn’t I felt I had to leave,” Diamantis said. “I’m not sure it was the right decision but I had to do what I did to get my story out.”
Diamantis told the outlet he arrived in Greece about two days ago.
He said he has been in Greece for nearly two days ago, but would not reveal details of where he is.
“I don’t want to be in Greece under these circumstances and I didn’t want to leave my family and the country that I love,” Diamantis said. “But I don’t deserve to be here under these circumstances because I am innocent, and I hope the president and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., will come to that same conclusion.”
CASES STILL ON
With or without Diamantis in Connecticut, his sentencing will go on Sept. 30.
For now, the second trial is still set for December.
