Feds serve subpoenas on DECD in funding scandal. Agency clamps down on details in violation of FOIA.

The Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) has been served subpoenas for documents in the growing federal criminal investigation into the whereabouts of public funds distributed by the agency to some Hartford non-profit social services agencies.

The Courant’s Ed Mahony reported Thursday that subpoenas in the investigation name state Senator Douglas McCory (D-Bloomfield) his close associate Sonserae Cicero Hamlin. McCory is said to have been deeply involved in determining what organizations in his district would receive grant funds distributed by the Blue Hills Civic Association..

DECD was the first pass through agency that would distribute millions in funds appropriated by the legislature to non-profit organizations designated by name and amount by the legislature. Those organizations would then distribute the millions sent to them by the legislature. The process they used to determine recipients remains a mystery, though federal criminal subpoenas from a criminal grand jury ought to loosen the closely held details.

DECD on Monday confirmed that it had been served with subpoenas but refused to provide copies of the subpoenas, in violation of long established state law that subpoenas served on state agencies are subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Lamont administration was one of five finalists chosen by Investigative Reporters and Editors for the 2025 Golden Padlock Award, in recognition of the most secretive agencies and public officials in the nations.

Published August 4, 2025.