Kosta Diamantis drops request for travel to Greece before trial

Konstantinos Diamantis, a former state deputy budget director, withdrew a request to take a month-long vacation to Greece while he awaits trial on federal bribery and extortion charges.

Diamantis, who previously led Connecticut’s school construction program, dropped his plans to travel to Greece less than a day after federal prosecutors objected to the international travel.

According to a motion filed in court, Diamantis intended to lead a family vacation to Greece from late July to late August, and he told a federal judge that he would serve as a tour guide for the trip, where he would be joined by his children, grandchildren and other extended family.

But the U.S. Attorneys office came out against those travel plans. In a brief, they argued that Diamantis’ trip to Greece was unwarranted while he is facing 26 federal charges and they cautioned that Diamantis could claim citizenship while in Greece and potentially fight his extradition back to the United States.

As part of the motion, prosecutors pointed out that Diamantis was required to turn over his passport as part of the terms of his release on a $500,000 bond.

Norm Pattis, Diamantis’ defense attorney, initially criticized federal prosecutors for standing in the way of the pre-planned travel, which was booked in February before Diamantis was officially accused of steering contracts to specific construction companies and then accepting bribes from those contractors.

But less than a day after calling out federal prosecutors for what he described as “pettiness,” Pattis filed another motion withdrawing the travel request.

“The defendant, Konstantinos Diamantis, withdraws his motion for permission
to travel to Greece,” Pattis wrote.

That motion will mean that U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Farrish will not need to weigh in on the matter or decide whether Diamantis should travel to Greece ahead of his upcoming trial in February.