Fed Investigating How Legislature Earmarked $15M for Community Health Center

The federal bureau of investigation probe into the Community Health Center is focused on determining how exactly the non-profit founded in 1972 here in Middletown wholly secured $15 million in state bond funds from the legislature last May, according to a story in the CT Mirror.

"A health clinic is favored, and the FBI asks why," published March 22 says the FBI is examining legislative documents and interviews for evidence that the bonding for Community Health Center CEO and President Mark Masselli was tied to his support of former Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan's unsuccessful congressional campaign last year.

Middletown Patch published an article March 19, Report: Community Health Center Head at Center of Fed Probe, detailing the federal criminal investigation.

Millions in state bond funds were given to CHC while Donovan was speaker and a candidate for Congress in 2011 and 2012, according to press releases from the Connecticut House Democrats.

Also published today on Kevin Rennie's Daily Ructions blog, "Anatomy of a Probe: Community Health Center Subpoena Shows Growing Corruption Investigation. Feds’ Demand Includes Documents on Wyman, Barnes," says the feds served a comprehensive subpoena on Community Health Care, Inc., in early December.

The Mirror reports "Masselli is the highest paid chief executive of the community health centers in Connecticut, with a compensation package that more than doubled from 2009 to 2011."

It also details, "His total compensation rose from $306,477 in 2009 to $363,703 in 2010 to $629,073 in 2011, but Obston said the 2011 number was an anomaly. His base salary was $330,435, but the non-profit's board gave him a one-time payment of $273,210, mostly  to compensate for the fact the group had no retirement benefits until 1989."

The Daily Ructions site reports: "Federal criminal investigators have widened their hunt for government corruption to the murky world of state bonding projects and the practice of larding public funds on private enterprises. The federal authorities appear to be trying to untangle the webs of influence that have state taxpayers on the hook for billions in grants to those who win favor among the powerful."