Diamantis adds Governor Lamont to eve-of-trial witness list. Twice indicted former legislator says trial should be postponed due to federalism.

A busy day less than 24 hours before jury selection is to begin in the first of two corruption trials of former state representative and school construction finance official Kostantinos Diamantis. The former deputy budget director added Governor Ned Lamont to his list of witnesses to be called at the trial that begins on Monday, October 6th. Jury selection is scheduled for tomorrow.

Lamont fired Diamantis from his post as deputy budget director in October 2021 when he learned of a federal criminal investigation of Diamantis. Three defendants in the school construction bribery prosecution entered guilty pleas in closed court session the day before Diamantis was indicted in May 2024.

Diamantis claimed he would be prejudiced if jury selection begins Friday on 22 charges because potential jurors may not know the government shutdown does not affect their obligation to appear at the federal courthouse in Bridgeport. Diamantis also claims that proceeding with a trial while many government agencies are closed could give jurors the impression that the corruption prosecution carries an air of urgency, “bolstering,” according to his attorney, Norm Pattis.

Diamantis also asserts a novel theory, “Finally, the government shutdown reflects a passionate disagreement about how federalism should function in the United States, a theme likely to emerge in this case, which involves a federal prosecution of state officials performing state jobs. Mr. Diamantis requests rescheduling the trial to a time when the passions that led to the shutdown of the federal government have had a chance to cool.”

Diamantis faces a second corruption trial early next year. That one is for allegedly soliciting and accepting a bribe in return for short-circuiting a Medicaid audit of a Bristol optometrist. She pleaded guilty in that investigation early this year.

Published October 2, 2025.