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FAIR HAVEN, CONN---The same judge who sentenced former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland to a year and a day in prison has sentenced two more individuals to prison that were involved in a Pay to Play scheme.
Rowland's former co-chief of staff, Peter N. Ellef, 61, of Avon who took gifts, cash and gold coins from a state contractor in return for rigging bids for state work was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release as was William A. Tomasso, 40, of New Britain, the contractor, both convicted of federal bribery and tax charges.
The scandal which occurred in Rowland's administration led to the Governor's resignation and ended another phase of the four-year corruption investigation. Rowland was in his third term of Governor and resigned in the middle of attempts to impeach him. He pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to commit tax fraud and depriving taxpayers of the honest services they expect from public officials.
Judge Peter Dorsey of New Haven also ordered Ellef and Tomasso to pay a fine of $15,000 and to perform 400 hours of community service. They had each pleaded guilty last October to conspiracy to commit federal bribery and conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.
In addition, Judge Dorsey sentenced Tunxis Managegment Co. of New Britain to a five-year period of probation, and ordered the company to pay a fine in the amount of $102,000 . The company had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.
According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, Ellef, who from October 1997 through March 2002 was the co-chief of staff to former Gov. Rowland, and Tomasso, co-founder and president of Tunxis Management Co., admitted that they entered into an unlawful agreement whereby Ellef was rewarded financially in exchange for his influencing the awarding of State of Connecticut business to Tomasso related companies. Specifically, Ellef admitted that he provided confidential information and preferential treatment to Tomasso and Tomasso-related companies including, but not limited to, fixing the vote for the selection of construction manager for the contract to build the Connecticut Juvenile Training School (CJTS) in Middletown, Conn.
Prosecutors said that Tomasso used his friendship with Ellef to win state contracts during the Rowland administration which amounted to millions of dollars. Rowland was trapped in the scheme with Ellef and Tomasso and accused of accepting improper favors from the Tomasso family and others and failing to take action when it was learned that Tomasso had gained an unfair advantage in a $57 million contact from a juvenile center.
Tomasso admitted that, in addition to cash and other things of value he gave to Ellef, he also gave preferential treatment to and steered work to LF Design, a landscaping and snow removal company owned by Ellef's's son, Peter Ellef II. Ellef possessed and used an LF Design American Express credit card and charged thousands of dollars of personal expenses, such as airline tickets and expensive meals, which were run through LF Design accounts as business expenses.
Tomasso and Tunxis admitted that corrupt payments were deducted as business expenses, and that Tomasso was given approximately $1,000 per month from Tomasso-related companies, allegedly for travel and entertainment. As a result of this illegal agreement, for the years 1999 to 2002, Tomasso caused Tomasso-related companies, including Tunxis, to improperly deduct $399,938.37 in expenses, prosecutors said.
On Sept. 23, 2004, a grand jury sitting in Hartford returned an indictment charging Ellef, Tomoass, Tunxis, LF Design, Tomasso Brothers, Inc. and Peter Ellef II with various corruption-related offenses. On Oct. 25, 2005, LF Design pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. LF Design is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Dorsey on Friday.
Tomasso Brothers Inc. will pay $366,906 to the Internal Revenue Service in order to resolve its outstanding tax liability and the criminal charges against the company have been dismissed. The Government has also agreed to seek the dismissal of the criminal charges against Peter Ellef II in exchange for his payment of $62,011.43 to the IRS in order to resolve his outstanding tax liability.
Ellef, Tomasso, Tunxis, LF Design, Tomasso Brothers, Inc. and Peter Ellef II have also paid to the State of Connecticut restitution in the amount of $1 million. 4-26-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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