Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut
A federal grand jury in New Haven has indicted Konstantinos "Kosta" Diamantis, 68, of Farmington, and Christopher Ziogas, 73, of Bristol. They face multiple charges related to the cancellation of a state audit involving a Medicaid provider engaged in healthcare fraud.
The indictment was returned on February 25, 2025. Both Diamantis and Ziogas appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti in Bridgeport, entered not guilty pleas, and were released on $500,000 bonds.
According to the indictment, between January and June 2020, Diamantis served as Deputy Secretary at the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management (OPM), while Ziogas was a State Representative for Connecticut’s 79th Assembly District. They allegedly participated in a scheme where Diamantis received corrupt payments from Helen Zervas, an optometrist and owner of Family Eye Care in Bristol. In return, he performed official acts concerning a state audit of Zervas's Medicaid overbilling. The pair reportedly took measures to hide their actions.
In January 2020, the Department of Social Services (DSS) notified that it would audit Zervas's Medicaid billing practices. Zervas sought help from her fiancé Ziogas to prevent this audit due to fraudulent overbilling concerns. Ziogas then contacted Diamantis for assistance. In exchange for payments from Ziogas and Zervas, Diamantis is accused of pressuring other state officials to favorably resolve the DSS audit.
The indictment alleges that on March 4, 2020, Ziogas paid a $20,000 bribe to Diamantis; this was followed by reimbursement from Zervas with a $25,000 check from Family Eye Care. On March 12, another $10,000 bribe was made by Ziogas to Diamantis and reimbursed by Zervas thereafter. The DSS audit was subsequently canceled after being influenced by Diamantis through OPM and DSS officials.
Further allegations include that on May 12, 2020, Diamantis and Ziogas delivered a check from Family Eye Care amounting to $599,810 to DSS. A final bribe payment of $65,000 was allegedly made by Ziogas through Zervas to Diamantis on May 15.
Both defendants are also charged with making false statements during FBI interviews about this case. Additionally, Diamantis failed to report the corrupt payments totaling $95,000 on his federal tax return for the year 2020.
Ziogas is separately accused of committing bank fraud while serving as trustee for a client trust named "Trust-1." In November 2019 he allegedly negotiated a check from Trust-1 for $5,500 payable to "Kosta Diamantis."
Diamantis and Ziogas face several charges including extortion under color of official right with up to 20 years imprisonment; bribery carrying up to ten years; conspiracy charges related both extortion and bribery; false statement counts which could result in five years per count; filing false tax returns punishable by three years; illegal monetary transactions incurring ten-year terms each; along with bank fraud which could lead up-to thirty-year imprisonment term.
Acting U.S Attorney Silverman emphasized: “An indictment is only a charge—it is not evidence—charges remain allegations until guilt is proven beyond reasonable doubt.”
This investigation involves collaboration between Federal Bureau Investigation alongside Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division led prosecution efforts handled jointly Assistant U.S Attorneys Jonathan N Francis David E Novick.
