Zahn, Wannamacher indicted by grand jury on fraud, conspiracy charges

[thelakelander]

A federal grand jury indicted former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn and former Chief Financial Officer Ryan Wannemacher with conspiring to steal and obtain by fraud money that would have been generated from the sale of the city-owned utility.

The March 2 indictment was released to the public March 7.

If convicted on all counts, Zahn, 42, and Wannemacher, 40, face up to 25 years in federal prison.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/zahn-wannamacher-indicted-by-grand-jury-on-fraud-conspiracy-charges

[vicupstate]

If they are found guilty, I hope the judge throws the book at them. If true, they sought to rob literally every man, woman and child in Jacksonville blind. History tells me they will probably get less time than someone guilty of a petty theft. 

Kudo's to the Times-Union for shining the light on this situation. People that criticize the 'lamestream media' 24/7 don't seem to have a clue how corrupt our nation would be in the absence of said media.     

[BridgeTroll]

Wow... am hoping for 2 convictions.

[CityLife]

Wow... am hoping for 2 convictions.

Best case is they plead guilty and give up anyone else involved (for a reduced sentence) and it becomes more than 2 convictions.

[Steve]

Wow... am hoping for 2 convictions.

Best case is they plead guilty and give up anyone else involved (for a reduced sentence) and it becomes more than 2 convictions.

That's my goal. I want Zahn to sing.

[jaxlongtimer]

Whether Curry gets officially roped in or not, it is clear he has great responsibility for this fiasco.  He rigged the JEA board with his appointees, most of whom were clueless re: how to serve on such a board and/or were just his lapdogs, hand picked a grossly unqualified and not properly researched CEO in Zahn and pushed for nothing less than full privatization despite strong indications this was not a worthy outcome.

The question is what was in it for Curry to all but demand JEA get privatized?  A juicy consulting/lobbying contract after his term is up?  A giant pot of money to spend about the City to convince voters he had found a fountain of gold, even if that meant mortgaging the City's future (see a similar outcome with the City pension plan shell game) in order to advance his political ambitions?  Giving payback to his big donors so he could count on future financial support for his political ambitions?

I don't know but Curry clearly had a motivation that doesn't appear to be in the best interest of the City he serves.  Hopefully, this is the fork in his political career.

[vicupstate]

Jacksonville would be  a city on fire economically if it hadn't had terrible leadership from top to bottom for the last 19 years.  Corruption seems to grow well here. It's like a weed that you decapitate but it just grows right back.

[Steve]

He rigged the JEA board with his appointees, most of whom were clueless re: how to serve on such a board and/or were just his lapdogs, hand picked a grossly unqualified and not properly researched CEO in Zahn and pushed for nothing less than full privatization despite strong indications this was not a worthy outcome.

I think they do know how to serve, but clearly didn't do a good job here. That may be splitting hairs of course.

Now, the indictment is clear that Zahn and Wannemacher lied to the board, so at that point the board has plausible deniability regardless. We never know what they did and didn't know. I mean, the pick of Zahn had to seem odd to any human being so I feel like they had to know SOMETHING was up but since they were clearly lied to, they're covered.

[fsu813]

Wow... am hoping for 2 convictions.

Best case is they plead guilty and give up anyone else involved (for a reduced sentence) and it becomes more than 2 convictions.

That's my goal. I want Zahn to sing.

SPOILER: it's all going to lead back to Jeffery Epstein.

[jaxlongtimer]

He rigged the JEA board with his appointees, most of whom were clueless re: how to serve on such a board and/or were just his lapdogs, hand picked a grossly unqualified and not properly researched CEO in Zahn and pushed for nothing less than full privatization despite strong indications this was not a worthy outcome.

I think they do know how to serve, but clearly didn't do a good job here. That may be splitting hairs of course.

Now, the indictment is clear that Zahn and Wannemacher lied to the board, so at that point the board has plausible deniability regardless. We never know what they did and didn't know. I mean, the pick of Zahn had to seem odd to any human being so I feel like they had to know SOMETHING was up but since they were clearly lied to, they're covered.

Steve, if they knew how to serve they would never have approved of Zahn as CEO or been so easily bamboozled by Zahn and his team on the sale and bonus plan.  As I recall, given the gravity of the decisions at hand, they were very light on questions and discussions when these issues arose.

I did offer that much of the board could have been Curry's lapdogs, just rubber stamping anything Zahn and Curry wanted.

Regardless of the rationale, the board has a fiduciary responsibility to perform independent due diligence and proper oversight of the executive leadership.  Given that JEA's future was on the line, they should have interviewed and cross examined directly industry experts, consulting M & A advisors, CPA's and lawyers and not allowed Zahn to filter (alter!) their comments.  Just plain laziness on top of everything else.  Add, that the Times Union found out more from outside the loop than the board did on the inside.  Thus, pleading ignorance is no excuse for failing at their job.

This is what you get when agency and public entity boards are picked for their political connections, not for their expertise or experience.  You have much of this with JTA, JPA, DIA, planning commission, pension board, etc. too and, in my opinion, the results show it.  Arguably, our legislative bodies share much of the same weaknesses.

[jaxlongtimer]

Whether Curry gets officially roped in or not, it is clear he has great responsibility for this fiasco.  He rigged the JEA board with his appointees, most of whom were clueless re: how to serve on such a board and/or were just his lapdogs, hand picked a grossly unqualified and not properly researched CEO in Zahn and pushed for nothing less than full privatization despite strong indications this was not a worthy outcome.

The question is what was in it for Curry to all but demand JEA get privatized?  A juicy consulting/lobbying contract after his term is up?  A giant pot of money to spend about the City to convince voters he had found a fountain of gold, even if that meant mortgaging the City's future (see a similar outcome with the City pension plan shell game) in order to advance his political ambitions?  Giving payback to his big donors so he could count on future financial support for his political ambitions?

I don't know but Curry clearly had a motivation that doesn't appear to be in the best interest of the City he serves.  Hopefully, this is the fork in his political career.

Mark Woods ties Curry's legacy to the failed sale of JEA:

Mark Woods: His name isn't in it, but unsealing of JEA indictment seals Lenny Curry's legacy

The mayor wasn't among those indicted by a federal grand jury. His name doesn't appear anywhere in the 30-page document that was filed last Wednesday and unsealed Monday. His title only appears once. ("JEA was governed by a seven-member board appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council.")

This doesn't mean Curry and some in his orbit weren't involved in the attempt to sell JEA. It doesn't mean he can simply brush his hands together, say they're clean, and put the JEA saga in the past.

To the contrary, the unsealing of the indictment seals Curry's legacy as mayor....

....But at some point — at this point — it's time to say that, even if the mayor keeps saying otherwise, he tried to sell JEA.

Aaron Zahn led JEA down the path that led to indictments for him and finance chief Ryan Wannemacher for what the federal prosecutors describe as a conspiracy to embezzle, steal and obtain by fraud large sums of money — via a long-term incentive performance unit plan. Or, as it became known, the PUP.

But to paraphrase Billy Joel, they didn't start this fire.

The mayor did....

....From the beginning, something smelled rotten. And it wasn't just that a sewage treatment plant Zahn's company operated in Haines City had led to so many complaints from residents — breathing problems, nausea, smells that reminded them of "dead rats" — that, a year after it opened, it shut down.

It was that the JEA board, picked by Curry, didn't even ask about this. It was that Zahn and Curry bristled that this newspaper even raised questions about it and the hiring — a sign of things to come...

....When the scenarios were presented to the public, they never included the pros and cons of a public utility juxtaposed with the pros and cons of privatizing. It always was about the downside to a public utility — the so-called "death spiral" — and upside of a private utility....

....But it's now clear that the saga of JEA will stretch from the start of Curry's first term until the end of his second one. And when the indictment was unsealed Monday, even if his name wasn't there, it sealed the way many will remember him when his time is up.

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/columns/mark-woods/2022/03/08/jacksonville-mayor-lenny-currys-legacy-tied-jea-indictment/9417236002/

[Steve]

He rigged the JEA board with his appointees, most of whom were clueless re: how to serve on such a board and/or were just his lapdogs, hand picked a grossly unqualified and not properly researched CEO in Zahn and pushed for nothing less than full privatization despite strong indications this was not a worthy outcome.

I think they do know how to serve, but clearly didn't do a good job here. That may be splitting hairs of course.

Now, the indictment is clear that Zahn and Wannemacher lied to the board, so at that point the board has plausible deniability regardless. We never know what they did and didn't know. I mean, the pick of Zahn had to seem odd to any human being so I feel like they had to know SOMETHING was up but since they were clearly lied to, they're covered.

Steve, if they knew how to serve they would never have approved of Zahn as CEO or been so easily bamboozled by Zahn and his team on the sale and bonus plan.  As I recall, given the gravity of the decisions at hand, they were very light on questions and discussions when these issues arose.

I did offer that much of the board could have been Curry's lapdogs, just rubber stamping anything Zahn and Curry wanted.

Regardless of the rationale, the board has a fiduciary responsibility to perform independent due diligence and proper oversight of the executive leadership.  Given that JEA's future was on the line, they should have interviewed and cross examined directly industry experts, consulting M & A advisors, CPA's and lawyers and not allowed Zahn to filter (alter!) their comments.  Just plain laziness on top of everything else.  Add, that the Times Union found out more from outside the loop than the board did on the inside.  Thus, pleading ignorance is no excuse for failing at their job.

This is what you get when agency and public entity boards are picked for their political connections, not for their expertise or experience.  You have much of this with JTA, JPA, DIA, planning commission, pension board, etc. too and, in my opinion, the results show it.  Arguably, our legislative bodies share much of the same weaknesses.

All fair points - I continue to feel like they HAD to know something was up. How do they find this random dude to run a massive utility?

[Josh]

He rigged the JEA board with his appointees, most of whom were clueless re: how to serve on such a board and/or were just his lapdogs, hand picked a grossly unqualified and not properly researched CEO in Zahn and pushed for nothing less than full privatization despite strong indications this was not a worthy outcome.

I think they do know how to serve, but clearly didn't do a good job here. That may be splitting hairs of course.

Now, the indictment is clear that Zahn and Wannemacher lied to the board, so at that point the board has plausible deniability regardless. We never know what they did and didn't know. I mean, the pick of Zahn had to seem odd to any human being so I feel like they had to know SOMETHING was up but since they were clearly lied to, they're covered.

Steve, if they knew how to serve they would never have approved of Zahn as CEO or been so easily bamboozled by Zahn and his team on the sale and bonus plan.  As I recall, given the gravity of the decisions at hand, they were very light on questions and discussions when these issues arose.

I did offer that much of the board could have been Curry's lapdogs, just rubber stamping anything Zahn and Curry wanted.

Regardless of the rationale, the board has a fiduciary responsibility to perform independent due diligence and proper oversight of the executive leadership.  Given that JEA's future was on the line, they should have interviewed and cross examined directly industry experts, consulting M & A advisors, CPA's and lawyers and not allowed Zahn to filter (alter!) their comments.  Just plain laziness on top of everything else.  Add, that the Times Union found out more from outside the loop than the board did on the inside.  Thus, pleading ignorance is no excuse for failing at their job.

This is what you get when agency and public entity boards are picked for their political connections, not for their expertise or experience.  You have much of this with JTA, JPA, DIA, planning commission, pension board, etc. too and, in my opinion, the results show it.  Arguably, our legislative bodies share much of the same weaknesses.

All fair points - I continue to feel like they HAD to know something was up. How do they find this random dude to run a massive utility?

Curry did. He appointed him to the board before he "applied" for the CEO position.