A.G. Gancarski
As Jacksonville appears to move on from the plot to sell its municipally owned utility, a spokesperson for the FBI says there was a lot at stake in that scenario and similar cases, which led to sentencing for former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn.
“Fraud and corruption pose a fundamental threat to our national security and our way of life, and the FBI will not tolerate those who seek to deceive American citizens,” said Special Agent in Charge Kristin Rehler of the FBI Jacksonville Field Office.
“As a taxpayer, you are entitled to decisions based on the public’s best interest, and we take very seriously our responsibility to investigate and aggressively pursue individuals who attempt to defraud publicly funded institutions in a selfish effort to line their own pockets.”
Zahn, the architect of one of the most brazen grifts in Jacksonville history, got four years in federal prison for conspiring to steal municipal funds and for wire fraud, after a guilty verdict in a jury trial that ended in March.
He advocated privatizing or selling the utility, and contingent on that being successful, JEA employees would have been in line for a bonus scheme.
The so-called “performance unit plan” would have allowed people with the money to do so opportunities to buy shares of the public utility and profit personally off the sale. Per the Middle District of Florida, it “appeared to pay reasonable bonuses to PUP unit holders if JEA hit certain performance metrics. In reality, the PUP had hidden aspects designed to pay Zahn and other JEA executives lavish bonuses based on a calculation tethered to a sale of the municipal utility.”
“Trial evidence showed that the 100,000 PUP units were designed to increase in value from $10 to upwards of $11,500, for a potential bonus pool of $315,000,000, which would have been funded from the sale or privatization of JEA. Zahn expected to personally benefit from the PUP if JEA was sold in the amount of approximately $40 million, and Zahn expected other high level JEA executives to make approximately $10 million,” the Middle District added.
3 comments
Just Saying
July 31, 2024 at 5:10 pm
So what did the FBI have to do with the case? Did they ever interject? Why is Wannamacher working for another utility company in West Virginia there? Should somebody call them and let them know??? (Those guys are like, come here, man, tell us what the plan was!…) I think the FBI should have ongoing taps and surveillance on JEA and the mayor’s office since they are so concerned about fraud and grift. City Council, too. And the school board. Just do em all.
4 years for what Zhan did is an absolute joke. He’ll be eating lobster, playing racketball, and sunbathing for 4 years. Doesn’t even meet the baseline federal sentencing standards for wire fraud. He would get more if he robbed a liquor store instead of an entire city. And what about fines and restitution? The guy still has all his money. What a joke.
the Truth
July 31, 2024 at 6:19 pm
wish he would turn in Curry, you know he probably knew about the scheme
MH/Duuuval
August 1, 2024 at 7:41 pm
Yeah, Zahn’s trial was probably the last opportunity to grill Lenny under oath. Who, after all, hired Zahn ahead of many knowledgable industry candidates?
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