JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Painting a picture of a family man, involved in his community, attorneys for former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn are asking a judge to not impose a multi-year prison sentence for his federal convictions of conspiracy and wire fraud, which they say has already taken an immense toll on Zahn and his family, with scrutiny and humiliation leading to a diagnosis of PTSD for the former utility head.
Zahn was convicted in March, following a trial focused on a proposed bonus plan that prosecutors said could have paid out millions of dollars to Zahn and other executives, had the city-owned utility been sold, as was being explored in 2019. In a sentencing memorandum filed earlier this week, prosecutors argue for a punishment of “multi-year incarceration.” They pointed to sentencing guidelines that call for 87 to 108 months in prison, saying they will request a specific sentence at next week’s sentencing hearing.
Zahn’s attorneys began their 31-page sentencing memorandum, filed Tuesday night, with an outline of Zahn’s early life, childhood, and education. Supplemented with quotes by family members and others who know him, they describe Zahn as someone who showed a propensity to challenge himself from an early age, and participated in competitive swimming and soccer for much of his childhood, spent in Minnesota, Ohio, and New Jersey.
DOCUMENT: Sentencing memo by Aaron Zahn’s defense team
Two of the people quoted recalled how Zahn swam for hours each day before school with a goal of representing the U.S. at the Olympics, a dream that attorneys write was dashed when Zahn suffered burns during a camping trip the summer before his senior year of high school.
TIMELINE: The federal case against two former JEA executives
The sentencing memo goes on to describe Zahn’s time at Yale, where he began as a pre-med student before shifting to psychology and philosophy, while volunteering in the community, receiving honors for academics and community service.
After graduation, Zahn spent seven years working in New York City in the finance sector, until what was described as a “life reset” when Zahn saw the costs of such a career, and he spent almost a year determining how to make his life more meaningful, eventually transitioning to the environmental sector.
Attorneys later argue that over the last five years, Zahn and his family have endured trauma and suffering, with the public scrutiny and humiliation of the case leading to a diagnosis of complex post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. They state that Zahn’s wife and children are also being treated for trauma, and that the family faced repeated assaults and threats of physical violence from strangers enraged over the case.
News4JAX asked former federal prosecutor Curtis Fallgatter whether Zahn’s PTSD diagnosis was something the judge will take into consideration.
“If he had PTSD because he was in the military and suffered some shock in the military, that’s one thing,” Fallgatter said. “To claim PTSD because you’re a crook, and now you have a lot of anxiety because they called you out on it and prosecuted you, I don’t think that’s going to carry much weight with the judge, because he brought it on himself.”
Delving into the potential sentence itself, the defense attorneys take issue with the probation officer’s calculation of guidelines recommending a sentence of 87 to 108 months of incarceration, which is largely based on an “intended loss” of $40 million. That is the amount, the probation officer found, that Zahn could have received from the performance unit plan, or PUP, had JEA been sold. They argue his sentencing guidelines should instead be calculated based on the actual loss of zero, and that even if intended loss could be considered, the alleged loss is too speculative to factor into the sentencing.
The defense memo later argues that other factors around Zahn’s case, such as his background and personal characteristics, support leniency, and a sentence less than the guidelines recommend. Attorneys argue that the conviction itself, which has left Zahn’s business career “in ruins,” imposes serious punishment itself.
The ultimate sentencing will be up to a federal judge at a hearing on July 30. Attorneys will have an opportunity at that time to present additional arguments, all of which the judge will take into consideration.
“It’s one of those cases where it’s such an outrageous crime, you lie to so many people, you know, JEA was a wonderful organization that, you know, probably the most respected one in the nation, doing very well, owned basically by the citizens of our city here,” Fallgatter said. “And he came in and lied about the history and the future of the JEA. And the way he manipulated that is really pretty outrageous. So I think the judge will look at that type of conduct and say, this was a very mischievous and malicious type of fraud, that warrants a particularly serious sentence.”
Following the trial, defense attorneys also filed several motions, asking for a judgment of acquittal or a new trial. Prosecutors responded to those motions in May, opposing the requests.
A judge has not yet ruled on those motions.