Ex-CMEEC CEO sentenced for misuse of federal funds

Drew Rankin, the former CEO of the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Corp. (CMEEC), was sentenced to 12 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for misusing his organization”™s funds.

CMEEC is a cooperative public corporation that permits municipal electric utilities in Connecticut to join together to furnish electric power in the municipalities”™ areas of operation. CMEEC”™s Fairfield County members include the Second Taxing District of the City of Norwalk and the Third Taxing District of the City of Norwalk.

Between 2010 and 2015, CMEEC received more than $9 million dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy; CMEEC member towns also received funds from federal grants. According to the charges brought against him, Rankin and certain members of the CMEEC Board of Directors others planned, organized, and directed lavish trips outside of Connecticut, including trips to the Kentucky Derby in 2015 and 2016, and to a luxury golf resort in West Virginia in 2015, which totaled more than $800,000 in costs. These trips did not relate to CMEEC business, but were intended to personally benefit, compensate and reward Rankin, CMEEC board members, their family members, friends, and associates.

In response to reporter inquiries about the Kentucky Derby and golf trips, Rankin underreported the costs of the trips, omitted the names of attendees who were not CMEEC employees or board members, and made other false statements related to how the trips were funded. After the trips were known to the general public, CMEEC canceled a reservation it had made for the 2017 Kentucky Derby, and was refunded only approximately $90,000 of the $298,960 it had prepaid for the trip in May 2016.

Rankin left CMEEC in 2019 and started his own consulting firm. In December 2021, he was found guilty in a jury trial with former CMEEC Board Chairman James Sullivan and former Board Director John Bilda of one count of theft concerning a program receiving federal funds.

Rankin, who is released on $100,000 bond, is required to report to prison on July 11; Sullivan and Bilda will be sentenced separately later this week. Restitution will be determined after additional court proceedings.

Photo of Drew Rankin via his LinkedIn profile