Developer, imprisoned for fraud, gets early release
STAMFORD — A former Stamford developer who pleaded guilty in one of the most expensive fraud cases in the history of Connecticut has been released from federal prison due to the coronavirus crisis.
John DiMenna, 77, was in the second year of a seven-year prison sentence when he was let out this week and allowed to go to his home in Florida. He must serve three years of supervised incarceration at the residence.
U.S. District Judge in Bridgeport Victor Bolden gave the order Monday on compassionate grounds due to the pandemic.
In 2018, DiMenna pleaded guilty to defrauding investors and lenders of tens of millions of dollars. He surrendered to FMC Devens, a minimum
security camp in Massachusetts, in November of that year.
As a managing member of Seaboard, DiMenna was accused of perpetrating a fraud between 2010 and 2016 that lost investors approximately $28 million and lenders about $37 million, according to federal prosecutors.
DiMenna’s Greenwich attorney Kevin Thomas Duffy Jr. sent a letter to the warden of the Devens complex in April explaining his concerns about the health of DiMenna, who he said had high blood pressure and is a cancer survivor, according to the Bolden’s ruling released by federal authorities.
“I think the judge clearly did the right thing. Mr.
DiMenna will never be a recidivist and he is almost 78 years old,” Duffy said.
A little over a week later, Duffy filed a motion asking for the early release, adding that DiMenna was more susceptible to common illnesses and is in the highest risk category for complications and death from the disease. At the time Devens had a high concentration cases of Covid-19, the order stated.
Several of DiMenna’s reported victims opposed his release. One said, “Being confined to a comfortable home, in the company of his family and friends does not strike me as a very difficult punishment for Mr. DiMenna to endure and does not in a significant way repay his debt to society.”
Duffy said DiMenna has returned to Florida where his wife resides in a “tiny” apartment and the two are
bankrupt.
The attorney has filed a motion on behalf of DiMenna seeking to overturn his conviction based on ineffectual representation of council.
“He was sentenced as if he had stolen the money, but in fact he took nothing,” Duffy said. “He may have put false information on loan documents, but he did not take anything.”
Duffy argued that he could not practice social distancing while incarcerated and the prison hospital did not have the necessary medical items or equipment, such as ventilators, to treat him if he fell ill.
Attorneys for the government fought the release, questioning whether DiMenna actually would be safer outside the facility and arguing that his case involved “one of the largest dollar frauds prosecuted by the (federal) District,” according to Bolden’s order.
Bolden wrote that since the outbreak of the pandemic, numerous courts within this Circuit have held that a defendant’s pre-existing health conditions, in combination with the increased risks of the virus in prisons, constitute “extraordinary and compelling reasons” warranting release.
“While there is no question that a longer time in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons is preferable for Mr. DiMenna, from both the Court’s perspective (based on its original sentence) and from the perspective of a number of Mr. DiMenna’s victims, many of whom believe that compassionate release should not be extended to him, the balance of all of the relevant factors, however so slightly, favor his release now,” Bolden wrote.