Two ex-officers with CMEEC sentenced for misuing federal funds

Two more ex-officers of the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Corp. (CMEEC) received prison sentences for their misuse of the federal funds allocated to the organization.

James Sullivan, the CMEEC”™s former chairman, and John Bilda, a former member of the board of directors, were each sentenced to six months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. Earlier in the week, former CEO Drew Rankin was sentenced to 12 months o imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release.

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 them, the three former CMEEC officers 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 the three former officers, 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.

Sullivan and Bilda are currently free on bond and were ordered to report to prison on July 12. Rankin is also free on bond and scheduled to report to prison on July 11.