Commenting on ‘this tangled web of shakedowns and payoffs among three former top officials’

Thank you for your in depth article of June 25 on the fraud and corruption at the Orange County Industrial Development Agency.

This tangled web of shakedowns and payoffs among three former top officials: Ed Diana (our previous Orange County Executive), Vincent Cozzolino, the former Managing Director of the IDA, and Laurie Villasuso, the former IDA Chief Executive Officer. All three pled Guilty to felonies and have agreed to repay 1.2 million dollars in restitution to the Orange County IDA.

The IDA Board of Directors operated with little oversight of day-to-day operations and paid any non-itemized invoices that crossed their desk from Galileo Technology Groups Inc.

As it turned out, both Diana and Villasuso were on Galileo Tech’s payroll.

The Board of Directors has been replaced.

However, not one of these scammers will go to prison, not even a white collar prison.

We not only have a two-tiered system of justice (one for us and one for the elites), but Orange County has now become an official Banana Republic.

Congratulations to all involved in this disgusting sweetheart deal. I’m sure you’re all proud of yourselves.

Fortunately, midterm elections of 2022 will soon be here and we can clean house in Orange County.

Deborah C. Diltz

Chester