JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Former Chief Executive Officer of JEA, Aaron Zahn, was found guilty of conspiracy and wire fraud on Friday and could spend 25 years in prison. His chief financial officer, Ryan Wannemacher, was found not guilty. Those who were on hand when the proposed sale of JEA was beginning to play out, are starting to speak out.
It was six years ago when the idea to sell JEA was presented. Tom Petway was leaving the JEA board in 2017 when he said that the city should start thinking of selling one of the city’s most valuable properties.
And from that point, according to court testimony, the push began by former Mayor Lenny Curry’s administration to do just that. It was not even a year later that Paul McElroy, who was running JEA at the time, was forced out. He was quickly replaced by Aaron Zahn, seen as the handpicked choice of then-mayor Lenny Curry.
Monday, McElroy talked to News4JAX about the verdict and trial. He believes the verdict brought some closure to the community.
We asked McElroy about Mayor Curry and if he should be held responsible. “I don’t know, what I can tell you is I know that the auditors, the council auditor, I know that the state investigators, the district attorney, the FBI, looked at the facts and you know they came up with a decision to charge those two individuals. So I know anything at this point in time would certainly be speculation on my behalf.”
We also spoke with former JEA board member Rev. Fred Newbill. Newbill, who testified during the trial of Zahn and Wannemacher, said he felt deceived when he was on the board, but didn’t place blame on the Curry administration.
“No, you know I don’t blame and I never will blame another man for someone else’s situation. So no, I think as mayor sometimes you are trying to help people, you put people in place thinking one thing, but you’re not really responsible for their actions. So, I don’t really blame him,” Newbill said.
One man who does blame Curry is no longer with us, former Mayor Jake Godbold. In November 2019, two months before he died, he placed a full-page letter in the paper about the proposed JEA sale.
In the ad, Godbold calls out JEA leadership with words like “arrogant, ignorant and corrupt.” He wanted the council to put a stop to the talk. Godbold said Mayor Curry was behind all the efforts to sell JEA.
“There’s no doubt about that. It started there and that’s what that letter said. It is no secret. Jim, you’ve been around a long time, and you know what they say, follow the money,” Godbold said to Jim Piggott at the time.
Zahn’s former college roommate, attorney Stephen Amdur, testified that Zahn told him he would make $40 million if JEA were sold and that Zahn had former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry’s support for that payout. Curry has said “that never happened.”
News4JAX has reached out to Curry each day since Friday’s verdict, and so far, has not received a reply.
Zahn’s sentencing is scheduled for June 18, 2024.