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    Former Connecticut lawmaker to be sentenced for COVID-19 aid thefts

    HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT (AP) – A former Connecticut state representative is scheduled to be sentenced for stealing more than USD1.2 million from the city of West Haven – most of it in federal COVID-19-related aid – and using a good chunk of it to fuel his gambling addiction.

    Michael DiMassa could get more than four years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. He is asking Judge Omar Williams for leniency.

    “DiMassa suffered from a debilitating gambling addiction at the time of the offence,” his lawyer, John Gulash, wrote in a court filing, “and his essentially unfettered access to a deep pool of federal funds and total lack of impulse control facilitated his precipitous downward spiral.”

    The lawyer compared DiMassa to Howard Ratner, the gambler played by Adam Sandler in the movie Uncut Gems. He said he bet on things as frivolous as how long the national anthem would take to perform at the Super Bowl.

    He did much of his gambling and betting at the Mohegan Sun casino in eastern Connecticut.

    At the time of the thefts, which began in mid-2020, DiMassa was both a state representative and an aide to the West Haven City Council with authority to approve reimbursements for COVID-19-related expenses. He pleaded guilty in November to three counts of wire fraud conspiracy, admitting that he and others billed West Haven for legal, lobbying and consulting services that were never provided.

    Michael DiMassa. PHOTO: AP
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