JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Prosecutors and attorneys for both defendants presented their closing arguments in the case of United States vs. Aaron Zahn and Ryan Wannemacher Wednesday. No holds were barred on either side, with Zahn's attorney referring to the prosecution's argument as "frankly insane," while the prosecution said the defense's presentation "utterly crazy" and "pathetic."
Federal prosecutor Tysen Duva gave his closing argument first, imploring the jury to find Zahn, the ex-CEO of JEA, and Wannemacher, the ex-CFO, guilty of conspiracy and wire fraud. Duva was also afforded a rebuttal to both Zahn and Wannemacher's closing arguments.
The two are accused of working behind closed doors to sell JEA, called Jacksonville's "crown jewel," and pocket money from that sale -- potentially stealing hundreds of millions from the city.
At the time JEA was exploring a sale, and considering bids as high as $11.05 billion (which came from NextEra, the parent company of Florida Power & Light), Wannemacher and Zahn had passed an employee incentive plan through JEA's board of directors. Prosecutors say as executives, Wannemacher and Zahn stood to gain the most money -- and they hid from everyone, including the board, that an influx of cash from a sale would boost potential bonuses exponentially.
Both defense teams have argued that extensive vetting that Wannemacher and Zahn ran the plan through showed they were being transparent -- it wouldn't make sense to make creating their "conspiracy" more difficult on themselves. Duva maintained that the materials being vetted were incomplete.
READ MORE: The alleged scheme explained
'Lies, omissions and half truths'
In order to prove the charges, the prosecution does not have to prove the plan was ever actually implemented -- which it wasn't. They only have to prove that Zahn and Wannemacher conspired behind closed doors, which Duva said they did "with lies, omissions and half truths.”
The two defendants are being tried with separate juries. In front of both juries, Zahn's attorney, Eddie Suarez, was the first of the defense attorneys to present. Duva was then given the opportunity to rebut Suarez's argument.
Zahn's legal team chose to have his jury removed while Jim Felman, Wannemacher's attorney, gave his closing statement. While Suarez argued largely for the innocence of both men, Felman suggested that he didn't know whether or not Zahn was innocent, but Wannemacher was at best collateral damage.
Duva argued during his closing argument that Zahn came into JEA shortly before the sale effort with a plan to "fleece the city" already in mind. Following the narrative of the trial, he said Zahn created the plan to get rich off a public institution "built on the backs" of the hard working people of Jacksonville.
READ MORE: A frog, a mic drop and a promising young man | What to know about video evidence at JEA trial
'He knows what he did'
Wannemacher, for his part, knew exactly what was going on and helped create the financial plan, Duva said. "He should’ve stood up and said no, but he didn’t. He joined the plan.” He said the two leveraged the board into approving it, without disclosing what would happen in the event of a sale, and attorneys who vetted the plan did not have enough information to determine its legality.
Duva acknowledged it may have been out of character for Wannemacher, who worked at JEA prior to Zahn's appointment as CEO, but that didn't change what he did. Duva reminded the jury that their decision isn't based off whether or not the defendants are bad people, only if they did the crime.
He told the jury he believed Wannemacher himself knew he was guilty. Referring to a video where Wannemacher spoke with city council members about the plan, he said, “Mr. Wannemacher sounds like he’s about to throw up on himself, because he knows what he did, deep inside.”
Zahn's defense says he was victim of dirty politics
Both defense attorneys reminded the jury that their duty is only to decide if the government has proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt. They both argued that the government did not provide enough evidence to secure a conviction.
Suarez argued even bringing charges against Zahn was "frankly insane."
While arguing the government didn't have grounds to prove wire fraud, he said, “This just goes into the crazy category, right?”
He said the government had not disproved "lawful explanations" for Zahn's involvement in the plan, such as a genuine yearning for trying something new as a young CEO, or trying to secure better benefits for all employees. Zahn's close friend, an attorney who worked on the botched sale effort, testified that Zahn claimed he would make $40 million in the event of a sale. Suarez argued that prosecutors had not proven that Zahn meant he would make that money through the performance unit plan, and he could have been referring to a number of situations, like NextEra bringing Zahn after the sale.
Duva refuted this possibility by saying: "What does NextEra need Aaron Zahn for? They actually have good people."
Suarez notably did not argue much on the math behind the plan, which was the subject Zahn called his only witness to discuss -- a CPA who testified Zahn's camp paid him almost $200,000 to prepare his report and testify. Dickson argued that the city auditors who ensnared Zahn and Wannemacher did the math incorrectly, and the plan was in fact near-worthless. Those arguments were later largely shredded by testimony by Jeff Rodda from Jacksonville's Office of the City Auditor, who did the math that uncovered the plan. Recalling this testimony during his argument, Duva told the jury, "This is all a bunch of bull."
Suarez ended his statement by telling the jury that they were "the last hope" for Zahn -- "like Star Wars" -- who he painted as the victim of an overstepping government and dirty politics.
'This isn't Star Wars'
Duva rebutted by saying that when attorneys can't prove their point, they “poke holes at people.”
“You call the council auditors ‘the deep state.’ People that make a city salary," he said. “In Jacksonville, Florida, the council auditor is ‘the deep state’?”
Zahn, he said, was not a victim, but instead facing the consequences of trying to defraud the city. "This is what happens. You end up in this courtroom.. You lose your job."
To the jury, he said: “This isn’t Star Wars.”
'Maybe Mr. Zahn told the board members the truth, and maybe he didn't'
Felman conceded that spreadsheets shown to witnesses throughout the trial were indeed created by Wannemacher. But he argued that Wannemacher was simply testing numbers, and he never lied or concealed.
Felman suggested that Wannemacher could have been a victim of Zahn. He also said it was possible prosecutors charged Wannemacher because it would look "weird" to charge Zahn of creating a conspiracy by himself. He made the point that no evidence was shown of communication between the two defendants. “Maybe Mr. Zahn told the board members the truth, and maybe he didn’t. But how is Mr. Wannemacher supposed to know?”
He listed everyone who Wannemacher would have had to fool in order to pass this plan through without suspicion, a task which he painted as frankly impossible, like believing he could "fool the world."
“There is nothing you can do or say to a person that can cause them to not be able to do elementary school math," Felman said.
The idea that numbers don't lie has been employed by both sides, with the prosecution arguing that makes the city auditor's plan impenetrable and the defense arguing that anyone could have calculated the potential payouts at any time.
"I am not here to tell you that Mr. Wannemacher was perfect. It was quite easy to look back with the benefit of hindsight and say ‘I wish he could have said more,'" Felman said. But he argued there is "just no evidence that Mr. Wannemacher knew he was doing something wrong."
During his rebuttal of Felman, Duva reminded the jury Wannemacher's moral upstanding is unimportant: “This isn’t the decision of ‘is Ryan Wannemacher a good guy?’ This is a decision of ‘what in God’s green earth are you doing, man?’”
He listed off opportunities Wannemacher could have taken to expose the plan, saying, "There were so many outs."
He conceded Felman's point that Wannemacher may have been lured by Zahn, but insisted he was an active participant, perhaps "enamored" with Zahn.
“Aaron Zahn led this charge, and he needed someone to do it with him."
The juries will come back to the courthouse Thursday morning to receive their instructions and begin deliberating.