JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Testimony on Thursday was the first time juries heard from a member of former Mayor Lenny Curry’s staff in the federal case against former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn and former CFO Ryan Wannemacher, who are accused of orchestrating what some are calling the largest attempt to defraud the city of Jacksonville in history.
The alleged scheme revolved around the potential sale of JEA and the proposed bonus plan that could have paid out millions of dollars to executives and others in a sale that would have happened under Mayor Curry’s watch.
Sam Mousa told the court about his role as a consultant for the mayor and for Florida Power & Light (FPL).
Mousa was Curry’s Chief Administrative Officer until he left city government in 2019. Mousa said he was hired as a consultant later that year to help draft a wish list of sorts of city projects, roads, parks and infrastructure that could have been funded from the billions of dollars the city would have received had JEA been sold.
MORE: City lawyer testifies she saw issues with controversial bonus plan for JEA execs, even though she was set to benefit | JEA pushed for accelerated plan to sell utility to alter the narrative after public backlash, investment banker says | Former JEA exec testifies she didn’t speak up about controversial bonus plan because she thought board members knew | Ex-JEA board chair had no idea plan she voted for could net $345M in bonus payouts if utility was sold: testimony | As city council auditors pushed for answers on controversial bonus plan, they say they got no response from JEA execs
On the stand, Mousa was asked about the yearly contribution JEA currently makes to the city and said it makes up a substantial portion, about 10% of the city’s budget.
Mousa also told the court that he was hired in August of 2019 as a consultant for FPL to raise awareness of the utility since its parent company Nextera was bidding to buy JEA.
Mousa said he only heard of the controversial bonus plan known as the PUP from reports on TV and in the newspaper.
He also said he had never seen anything like the bonus plan before in city government with assets or part of the profits of a sale going to top executives.
Earlier in the day, union leaders also testified.
They told the court that JEA executives had several meetings with them where they were warned hundreds of employees could be laid off if changes were not made. They said there was lots of confusion and chaos among employees.
When it came to the bonus plan as an incentive to help employees, they testified they were never given much information about it and they were never told of the potential payout it could bring top executives.
Current JEA CEO Jay Stowe also talked about what he faced when came on board in Nov 2020: rebuilding trust, hiring a new senior leadership team and the fact that JEA was on good financial footing when he joined.
This trial could go on for several more weeks.
Special hearings are set for Friday and the defense could start calling witnesses next week.