Hartford Treasurer Adam Cloud has been racking up legal fees during a months-long FBI investigation into several Hartford offices, including the Treasurer’s.
Cloud sent his lawyer’s bill to the city’s pension fund—but the fund says it doesn’t have to pay. From the Hartford Courant:
Cloud submitted invoices to Hartford’s finance department requesting payment for the services from a pension account, Albert Ilg, the interim finance director, wrote in a letter to Pension Commission Chairman Peter Stevens earlier this month. Invoices show the treasurer is seeking $40,765 for the services.
“The requests include consultation regarding matters involving the Treasurer’s Office, but seem to indicate they do not involve Mr. Cloud within his role and pertaining to duties regarding the Pension Commission,” Ilg wrote. “It is my understanding the City of Hartford is already providing counsel for the treasurer in regard to the Federal Grand Jury subpoenas.”
The city hired attorney John Droney to represent Cloud in connection with a federal grand jury investigation into an insurance controversy. But Ilg said in the letter to Stevens that another attorney, William P. Beccaro of Essex, has been hired to provide services.
“To the best of my knowledge there is no other inquiry against the Pension Commission arising from the grand jury,” Ilg wrote. “As you know, the Pension Commission can only spend Pension Fund resources for legal and other matters that relate to actions by Mr. Cloud in his role as the secretary to the Pension Commission.”
The investigation involves $670,000 in insurance premiums that were sent by Cloud’s office to an insurance broker for the city. The broker, Hybrid Insurance Group, had warned city employees that their policies were in danger of cancellation if they didn’t pay.
The money was wired to Hybrid, but it has since disappeared.