JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn and CFO Ryan Wannemacher are charged with conspiracy and fraud in federal court.
The pair's trial in a courtroom with two juries is being called by legal experts, "The largest fraud case in Jacksonville history."
According to veteran attorney Curtis Fallgatter, both men could get 25 years in federal prison if they're found guilty. But Fallgatter says if there's a guilty verdict, he'd expect it to be less than that. Perhaps far less.
What was the alleged scheme?
"It was cruel," Jacksonville City Councilman Matt Carlucci said. He calls Zahn and Wannemacher "shysters."
Tim Wing, who moved to Jacksonville to work at JEA, says he was suspicious of Zahn. "I told Zahn to his face...I don't trust you," Wing said.
Ronnie Burris is Business Manager for Local 630, one of five JEA unions. He says he and his fellow union members felt betrayed. "Oh, I'm still pissed," he says. "I still resent this to this day."
The plot
Attorney Steve Busey was hired by the Jacksonville City Council to investigate JEA matters and produce a report back in 2020. The report says its team looked at 600,000 documents to issue its findings. Several Jacksonville City Council members were part of the investigatory committee, including Chair Brenda Priestly Jackson.
It begins with what Busey calls "phantom dollars," or payments JEA workers thought they'd get, but they didn't exist, according to Busey.
Zahn planned to launch a Performance Unit Plan, aka "PUP."
Employees were under the perception they could buy units, say, for $10 each. So what if an employee would buy, for example, two PUP units for $20? How big would the "bonus" be?
Busey says, "We don't have numbers." He says that's because it was a phantom idea, or in his words, "complete phantom."
According to the City Council Investigatory Report, the scheme was based on the sale of JEA. The higher the value of JEA upon a sale, the larger the value of the PUP.
First Coast News asked JEA workers, to their understanding, where would their bonus money show up? In their paychecks?
The half dozen JEA workers at the interview agreed they didn't know. Burris says, "I didn't totally understand it."
When asked if JEA executives deliberately made the plan confusing to the JEA workers, Busey says, "Yes."
Busey says Zahn was already pulling in close to half a million dollars in salary. However, from the PUP plan, Busey says, "He would have realized hundreds of millions of dollars personally from this."
"It was a huge fraud," Busey says.