Feds say contractor in Rowland scandal 'incorrigible'
Kurt Claywell will be sentenced Jan. 2 for conspiracy to commit bankruptcy fraud. Authorities say he concealed more than $200,000 in assets, including cash, land, books and a wine collection he had recently divested, from a bankruptcy court and trustee during a voluntary bankruptcy filing in 2005.
Claywell, who also faces restitution, is serving a 66-month federal prison sentence for various tax and mail fraud violations. He also was convicted of fourth-degree sexual assault and accessory to bribing a witness.
"The defendant has demonstrated that he is incorrigible," prosecutors wrote in court papers filed Thursday. "The defendant's guilty pleas to financial fraud charges have not resulted in rehabilitation, but rather have been followed by additional financial fraud crimes resulting in significant financial loss to others and in the waste of taxpayer dollars better spent on other pursuits."
During the Rowland investigation, Claywell, a Simsbury electrical contractor, told investigators he gave Rowland expensive cigars and champagne in exchange for access to state contracts. Claywell, who was not charged in the Rowland case, was already facing unrelated tax and fraud charges when he agreed to cooperate in the corruption probe that led to Rowland's resignation and one-year prison sentence.
Claywell's attorneys asked for a sentence of about three years. They said Claywell's latest scheme was bound to fail because his prior criminal conviction would lead to more scrutiny and creditors included the wife he was divorcing and his own divorce attorney.
"Indeed, Mr. Claywell's misguided efforts to conceal assets failed in very short order and in the end harmed him in some respects more than it harmed his creditors," Claywell's attorneys wrote in court papers.
Prosecutors rejected that argument, saying Claywell's wife was not aware of the land he owned.
"The defendant should not benefit in this instance because of the audacity of his crime," prosecutors wrote. "Rather, he should be punished to the fullest extent because he simply will not voluntarily comply with any financial rule that is not to his personal benefit."
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