United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

LISA THIESFIELD SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR HER ROLE IN CONNECTICUT TREASURER'S OFFICE SCANDAL

The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut announced that LISA A. THIESFIELD, age 33, of 100 Wells Street, Hartford, Connecticut, was sentenced today in New Haven federal court to six months imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, as a result of her role in the Connecticut Treasurer's Office scandal. Senior United States District Judge Ellen B. Burns also ordered THIESFIELD to spend the first six months of her supervised release confined to her home, and ordered that she pay for the cost of her electronic monitoring during that time. In addition, Judge Burns ordered THIESFIELD to pay a fine of $50,000, noting that the maximum fine of $30,000 under THIESFIELD's sentencing guideline range was "inadequate for this particular offense."

On September 4, 2003, THIESFIELD pleaded guilty to one count of a superseding indictment that charged her with corruptly aiding and abetting former Connecticut Treasurer Paul J. Silvester in accepting a reward. Silvester served as Connecticut Treasurer from July 1997 until January 1999, and had the sole authority to decide how the assets of the Connecticut State Pension Retirement and Trust Fund were invested. Also on September 4, 2003, Frederick A. McCarthy, the chairman of Triumph Capital Group, Inc., a Boston investment firm, pleaded guilty to corruptly rewarding Silvester. McCarthy admitted that to reward Silvester for placing an investment of Connecticut pension funds with Triumph, he gave consulting contracts of one million dollars each to THIESFIELD and Christopher Stack, both close associates of Silvester. THIESFIELD admitted that she accepted payments under the contract knowing that they had been paid as a reward to Silvester. Silvester authorized the investment of $200 million of state pension assets in a Triumph Capital related investment fund, Triumph Connecticut-II, in November 1998, after he lost the election to the current Connecticut Treasurer Denise Nappier.

Silvester pleaded guilty on September 23, 1999, to one count of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization statute ("RICO") and one count of money laundering. On November 20, 2003, he was sentenced to 51 months imprisonment. On February 26, 2004, McCarthy was sentenced by Judge Burns to 12 months and one day imprisonment.

These cases were investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nora R. Dannehy, Leonard C. Boyle, William J. Nardini, and David A. Ring.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov