BRISTOL, Conn. (WFSB) – A former Connecticut state representative pleaded guilty Wednesday to paying bribes to help his fiancée avoid a state audit of her eye care practice.

Christopher Ziogas, 74, of Bristol, admitted in federal court to conspiracy, bank fraud and lying to federal agents. The former lawmaker represented Connecticut’s 79th Assembly District.

Between January and June 2020, Ziogas worked with Konstantinos Diamantis, a top official in the state’s Office of Policy and Management, court documents show. Diamantis took corrupt payments from Ziogas’s fiancée, Helen Zervas, in exchange for killing a state audit of her Medicaid billing.

Diamantis was found guilty in October on 21 federal corruption charges in a separate case involving school construction projects. He’s facing up to 20 years in prison and will be sentenced Jan. 14.

Zervas owns Family Eye Care in Bristol and knew she had been fraudulently overbilling Medicaid for medical services she didn’t provide or that weren’t needed, prosecutors said.

In January 2020, the state told Zervas it was going to audit her Medicaid billing. Zervas asked Ziogas for help, and he reached out to Diamantis.

On March 4, 2020, Ziogas paid Diamantis a $20,000 bribe. That same day, Zervas’s lawyer sent state officials a settlement offer. The next day, Zervas cut Ziogas a $25,000 check from her business to pay him back.

On March 12, 2020, Ziogas made another $10,000 bribe payment to Diamantis and got reimbursed by Zervas. After Diamantis pressured other state officials, they cancelled the audit and accepted Zervas’s settlement offer on May 1, 2020, court documents say.

On May 12, 2020, Ziogas and Diamantis delivered a settlement check from Family Eye Care for nearly $600,000 to the state. Three days later, Ziogas made a final bribe payment of $65,000 to Diamantis.

Ziogas also committed bank fraud by writing a $5,500 check in November 2019 from a client trust account he managed, made out to Diamantis. He lied to federal agents during their investigation.

Ziogas could face up to 55 years in prison. He was released on $500,000 bond and will be sentenced Feb. 18 in Bridgeport federal court.

Zervas already pleaded guilty to related charges and is waiting to be sentenced. Diamantis is scheduled for trial Jan. 30 in Bridgeport on the Medicaid case.

Copyright 2025 WFSB. All rights reserved.

SIMSBURY, Conn. (WFSB) – As America marks its 250th year, researchers are uncovering stories of people whose names didn’t make history books but whose sacrifices shaped the nation.

In Simsbury, one such story centers on Esther Wallace Jackson, a woman born free to formerly enslaved parents who became the anchor of a multigenerational military family whose service spans nearly every major American conflict.

Jackson’s story was almost lost, scattered across probate records and fading documents.

Connecticut researcher John Mills spent years piecing it together, uncovering a formerly enslaved family whose military contributions include service from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War.

Mills, a genealogist and founder of the nonprofit Alex Breanne Corporation, discovered the family while tracing the family tree of a Civil War soldier from Bloomfield.

“It turns out he was a grandson of Peter and Esther Jackson. And so, I started chasing down that story and discovered that Peter Jackson had been enslaved in Simsbury,” Mills said.

The family’s military legacy runs deep. Jackson’s father, London Wallace, served in the French and Indian War.

Her three brothers fought in the Revolutionary War.

Generations later, seven of Peter and Esther’s grandsons served in the Civil War, and six never returned home.

“With every major conflict, this family is deeply involved,” Mills said.

For men who were enslaved or newly freed, military service carried deeper meaning.

“You’re fighting for the country while you also don’t have the same freedom as others,” Mills said.

Mills partnered with the Simsbury Historical Society and the Department of Veterans Affairs to install a burial marker honoring the family’s military legacy.

The marker was placed next to the headstones of Peter and Esther Jackson.

In June, descendants gathered to see their family’s untold story commemorated.

“The intent was to have every person that we knew of who fought in one of these U.S. conflicts that were a part of their family on this monument,” Mills said.

Jackson’s obituary described her as a respected community member who walked two miles to her church on Hopmeadow Street well into her nineties.

Her legacy now lives in the Simsbury Public Library, where a hand-painted portrait depicts her likeness using features of her descendants.

“We unveiled it on June 19, 2025. Now, we have something visual so that the family and the community have to align with the story of Esther Jackson,” Mills said.

Mills said the research serves a broader purpose beyond memorializing individuals.

“The information we find, the research we do, is not only for them to be memorialized. It’s to create something that the public and the community, that specific town, has something that gives them the history,” Mills said.

The Wallace-Jackson descendants say they plan to return to Simsbury this Memorial Day to place flags at the monument bearing their family’s name.

Click here for more information about the Alex Breanne Corporation.

Copyright 2025 WFSB. All rights reserved.

Independent polling conducted after Gov. Ned Lamont’s reelection kickoff found Connecticut voters give him a solid approval rating, but a significant minority are “indifferent or neutral” about him serving a third term.

A Nutmeg State Poll released Monday by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center found voters approve of his performance by a margin of 55% to 38%, a net approval rating of +17, virtually unchanged since September.

Lamont’s challenger for the Democratic nomination, Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden, barely made an impression among likely Democratic voters after four months of campaigning. Nearly 80% had no opinion of him, while 69% had a favorable opinion of the two-term governor.

If a Democratic primary were held today, the poll found Lamont outpolling Elliott, 55% to 7%, with 37% undecided and 2% saying they would write in someone else.

The data released Monday offered no matchups between Lamont and either of the two Republican candidates, Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich or former Mayor Erin Stewart of New Britain.

Overall, 34% of voters were enthusiastic (11%) or satisfied (23%) about Lamont’s candidacy for a third term, while 31% were dissatisfied (21%) or angry (10%), 28% indifferent or neutral, and 6% unsure.

Among Democratic voters, the poll found little evidence of the dissatisfaction that liberal Democratic lawmakers have expressed about Lamont over his refusal to embrace a more progressive tax code or higher spending.

Eighty-seven percent of self-described liberals, 76% of progressives and 63% of moderates had favorable opinions of Lamont. Forty-eight percent of socialists had a favorable opinion, but only 15% of socialists were negative.

Asked to name the most important problems facing Connecticut, the cost of living was named by 22%, following by taxes (18%), housing (15%), jobs and the economy (10%) and immigration (5%). Four percent mentioned national issues or the federal government.

The poll was conducted from Nov. 12 to 17 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5% percent on questions posed to all voters and 6.5% on questions posed only to likely Democratic voters.

The survey is based on “a probability-based web panel” recruited by phone, text-to-web, or mail-to-web surveys sent to randomly chosen individuals.