(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today released a letter to the Connecticut Auditors of Public Accounts summarizing and concluding a whistleblower investigation into the Connecticut Port Authority.

In January 2020, the Auditors received several allegations from a whistleblower regarding potentially improper and unethical conduct by Port Authority employees, board members and a contractor, Seabury PFRA LLC (“Seabury”).

The APA reviewed the whistleblower’s allegations and, in April 2020, reported its findings to the Office of the Attorney General. Upon receipt of those findings, The Office of the Attorney General opened an investigation pursuant to Sections 4-61dd(a) and (d) of the Connecticut General Statues.

As part of that investigation, the Office of the Attorney General conducted interviews and reviewed over 223,000 pages of records. The investigation developed evidence of several potential violations of Codes of Ethics, which were referred to the Office of State Ethics and the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney. Those referrals formed the basis of four enforcement actions by the Office of State Ethics, including two against Seabury, and actions against former Port Authority Board Member and Seabury employee Henry W. Juan III, and former Port Authority employee Andrew Lavigne.

Aside from Codes of Ethics violations, the investigation did not develop evidence of additional illegal conduct. Accordingly, the whistleblower investigation is now closed.

“Our investigation did not substantiate the whistleblower’s allegations of impropriety regarding ‘success fees’, but it did substantiate allegations of unethical behavior, as well as develop evidence of multiple alleged violations of both the Code of Ethics for Public Officials and the Code of Ethics for Lobbyists.  The agency tasked with enforcing Codes of Ethics violations—namely, the Office of State Ethics—did just that.  We thank the OSE for its hard work and dedication to enforcing Connecticut’s ethics laws,” Attorney General Tong states in the letter. “While the investigation did not develop evidence of illegal conduct for which the OAG has enforcement authority, we stand ready to implement and utilize our enforcement jurisdiction whenever violations of law giving rise to that authority occurs.”