Fraud in the Nutmeg State, named after the peddlers who sold fake wooden nuts to naive chumps, is nothing new, of course

“Absolutely, positively guaranteed the real thing, madam”

The appellation may be more legendary than fact, but the tradition lives on in the form of our modern social services slush funds (Ironically, the site I’ve linked to leads to the CT History Project, a non-profit which itself relies of federal and state grants).

Faced with cuts in federal funding aimed at waste and fraud in state governments, our Hartford Yahoos responded as they always do: rather examine and then address the waste and fraud that’s been uncovered, they simply created a new slush fund with money taken from their own state’s taxpayers.

Connecticut lawmakers gave final passage to a bill Thursday creating a state emergency relief fund. The fund will use up to $500 million in state budget reserve money, in response to what the bill calls “federal action or inaction that results in a reduction in resources.”

The bill gives the Lamont administration authority to resource affected programs such as home heating assistance and food and nutrition assistance, including WIC and SNAP. Child care (such as federally-funded Head Start), housing and health care also fall under the eligible programs.

Over the course of the two-day special session that began Wednesday some Republicans such as Rob Sampson (R-Wolcott) argued that there was “no emergency” or need for such a fund with the federal government shutdown over.

…. Democrats strongly rebuked that sentiment during floor discussions.

“$500 million isn't enough,” State Sen. Gary Winfield (D-New Haven) said.

…. The bill did have bipartisan support in both chambers, though some GOP critics characterized it as a “slush fund” and were concerned about spending the state reserves.

“There is nothing to ensure that we are actually meeting the needs, because the proponents are not explaining what the needs are, and how they add up to $500 million,” State Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich) said.

All Democrats voted for the measure. Among the state’s Republicans, 8 senators and 20 state representatives voted against it.

Not to worry, though: “if money from the fund is not spent by June 30, it will then go toward continuing to pay down pension debt.” Hahahahahah!

Okay, $500 million to keep their cronies oiled and prosperous. At least we have a track record of solid fiscal management and careful auditing, eh?

Well, there’s this:

CT officials order oversight, audit of New Opportunities after misuse of funds

State officials are demanding nonprofit agency New Opportunities Inc. submit to independent financial oversight after they said the Waterbury-based organization acknowledged using federal funds intended for low-income energy assistance to fill gaps in its operating budget for a second time in the past decade. 

And This:

Amid FBI probe, calls for more safeguards for grants: “Corruption on steroids”

 Citing a culture of corruption, Connecticut Republican legislators called Tuesday for greater transparency and oversight for nonprofit groups seeking state funding — drawing agreement from Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont.

…. The state budget passed earlier this year had 289 separate lines that simply listed the groups that received the money and the amount received.

“There are multiple organizations listed twice,” Republicans said in a statement. “Some organizations are either misspelled or have incorrect names. Some of the organizations had little to no information available online.”

Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield said the state needs “to close the candy store” and provide better details about the hundreds of groups receiving money.

“They have no problem handing out $5,000 to Jeep Enthusiasts of America,” Harding said, referring to a line in the budget. “They have no problem handing out a quarter million dollars to organizations that aren’t even registered with the state of Connecticut. This is taxpayer money. This is hard-earned money of the people of this state. Someone has to get a grip on this.”

Federal nonprofit probe examines millions of dollars in grants to CT state senator’s friend

Hey, look — a squirrel! Trump! Epstein!

“Connecticut Republicans’ sudden concern about transparency is predictably hypocritical,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney and Majority Leader Bob Duff. “They’re silent about the massive actual corruption happening in Washington under Donald Trump. Trump’s border czar getting $50,000 in a paper bag to steer contracts, Trump’s foreign bailout for billionaire donors, Trump’s constant leverage of the government for his own enrichment, and Trump’s administration hiding the Epstein files and considering a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell.”

….

“This is corruption on steroids,” said Sen. Rob Sampson, a conservative Republican from Wolcott. “Hundreds of these earmarks are simply written as a name and a dollar amount. No description of purpose. No performance requirements. No deliverables. Just a check.”

…. Democrats say that the funding package of $2.88 million that was approved earlier this year was necessary due to cuts at the federal level from President Trump’s administration and a lack of funding for immigrants and refugees, along with LGBTQ+ organizations.

Besides Planned Parenthood, more than 20 organizations received money in supplemental grants because they either serve immigrants and refugees or provide services for the LGBTQ+ community. Three of the largest grants were $387,500 for the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective, Inc. and $225,000 each for the New Haven Gay and Lesbian Community Center and Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, Inc.

Refuting Republican arguments, Looney said at the time that the nonprofit entities had been chosen because they were “unfairly targeted” and “whose national government, in effect, has declared war on them.” The funding was an emergency, he said, “because of the hostile attitude of the national government.”

And This:

October 20, 2025:

Federal grand jury probe shines light on millions of dollars directed by CT lawmakers

HARTFORD — A federal grand jury probe is spotlighting vague budget earmarks that have directed nearly $50 million in the last 12 years to support nonprofit youth programs intended to reduce violence and involvement in the juvenile justice system that members of the legislature's Black and Puerto Rican Caucus select.

Without much public scrutiny, a series of Democrat-controlled legislatures and two Democratic governors have been processing these handpicked selections for Youth Services Prevention grants from Black and Latino legislators.

…. The grant amounts, ranging from four to six figures, go to youth sports leagues, religious institutions, theater groups, community and recreation centers, and civic organizations, among others. 

…. Legislators in the recently established Asian American and Pacific Islander Issues Caucus are also now able to submit earmarks for Youth Services Prevention grants.

Members of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus are each granted $150,000 for budget earmarks to nonprofit and community groups within their districts.

There are no funding bills with the names of legislators sponsoring the Youth Services Prevention grants, no hearings and no application process. The governor and the Appropriations Committee recommend only the grant program's bottom line in spending plans. The specific earmarks are spelled out later in the final budget bill, but only the names of the recipients and grant amounts are listed, with no details about a nonprofit program's purpose or how the funds will be spent.

Bowing to pressure, the Democrats have now created new slush funds for every oppressed group in CT with a politically powerful caucus, from Pacific Islanders, Asians (?), Puerto Ricans, and the limp-wristed of all races and nationalities

The 2026 and 2027 budget for the first time includes some earmarks for Youth Services Prevention and Youth Violence Initiative grants from members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Issues Caucus that was established in 2024. 

….

Sen. Robert C. Sampson, R-Wolcott, said Republicans are focused on these two grant programs because they are appropriated largely behind the scenes. But they are not the only earmarks that Republicans are scrutinizing. 

"It is the process," said Sampson, the ranking Senate Republican on the Government Administration and Elections and Government Oversight committees. "It is that these grants are awarded without any open process at all and that the ultimate contract is drafted in secret after the money is already awarded."

Once House or Senate Democratic leadership accepts a Youth Services Prevention or Youth Violence Initiative earmark, the funding is essentially secured, he said.

"That is it. Then, the Judicial Branch is left to figure out who the grant actually goes to and puts something on paper," Sampson said. "It is just amazing to me."

August 5 2025 Ct Insider Investigator:

Sen. McCrory pushed funding toward nonprofit named in federal probe

Over the course of 2022 and 2023, Sen. Douglas McCrory, D-Bloomfield, used his status and position on the Minority Business Initiative board (MBI) to push hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants toward a nonprofit startup called the Society for Human Engagement and Business Alignment (SHEBA) operated by a close associate, according to documents obtained by Inside Investigator through a Freedom of Information request. 

Those grants are reportedly now at the center of a grand jury investigation that names McCrory, SHEBA president Sonserae Cicero Hamlin, and several other Hartford-area nonprofits connected to SHEBA through state-funded programs, according to the Hartford Courant. 

SHEBA, through its various for-profit and nonprofit entities, offers human resource consulting and business opportunity training for entrepreneurs. It is owned and operated by Cicero Hamilin, who claims to be a former human resources executive for Walgreens.

According to business records, Cicero Hamlin started SHEBA Inc in 2018 before starting SHEBA’s nonprofit — the SHEBA Resource Center — in January of 2022, along with SHEBA Consulting in March of 2022, essentially just in time to receive grant funding through the MBI program and other programs under the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD).

According to documents and meeting transcripts obtained by Inside Investigator, over the course of 2022, McCrory pushed for SHEBA to receive $300,000 from the MBI to offer a business certification program for start-ups who, after completing the certification, would become eligible for forgivable loans up to $50,000 through a partnership between HEDCO and the Spanish American Merchants Association (SAMA), backed by $3 million in state funds.

In October of 2022, an additional $5 million from the Small Business Boost Fund was awarded to the Hartford-based nonprofit Girls for Technology to work with SHEBA to “create support services for Black and Indigenous people of color women entrepreneurs,” by funneling participants to SHEBA’s business certification program, according to a press release from Gov. Ned Lamont.

…. Cicero also operates a cannabis consulting business called Melanated Marijuana, registered under the business name Levity Management, which she started in 2022 one month after she started the SHEBA nonprofit, according to state business records.

According to transcripts from a May 2022 meeting of the MBI board, at least one board member was skeptical about awarding significant funding to a heretofore unheard-of nonprofit that had just started its organization in January of that year.

MBI Advisory Board member George Mathanool, who was not present at the meeting during which Cicero presented her plan, questioned if it was wise to award so much money to a new startup nonprofit and thought the funds might be better used by distributing to one of the older and more established nonprofits, however, he was quickly rebuked by McCrory.

“But this young lady does not have any bonafides in any shape and form,” Mathanool said, according to transcripts. “For she’s a startup on her own and we are giving out 300k in one lump sum over even if we break it down, I don’t think that, as a fiduciary, that is kosher.”

….  When approving funding for the partnership program between Girls for Technology and SHEBA in March of 2023, former DECD Commissioner Alexandra Daum questioned the numbers: “Am I reading this right that the grant is for $1M/year but the target for job creation is only 10 jobs/year?” 

Hummel replied that SHEBA was working as a consultant to help startup businesses, and the ten jobs will come from those businesses. She also indicated that Girls for Technology had to hire staff to help women owned businesses.

…. It is unknown what exactly the grand jury is investigating and at this time there have been no official charges or allegations made by federal officials, but it represents another federal investigation into Connecticut politics following the arrest of former deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management Kosta Diamantis on corruption charges, and the arrest of former Rep. Michael DiMassa, D-West Haven, for theft of federal COVID dollars.

The federal investigation is also looking into how $500,000 disappeared in a wire transfers to Hartford area nonprofits, including the Prosperity Foundation – another nonprofit that McCrory advocated heavily for during the May 2022 meeting of the MBI advisory board, with Mathanool again raising his objection that they had no idea who the Prosperity Foundation was or what they did.

The grand jury is also reportedly investigating Connecticut’s complicated and expensive cannabis licensing program. McCrory was also at the center of controversy in 2021 when he attempted to insert language into the draft cannabis legalization bill that would have benefitted Theraplant.

McCrory is a long-time lawmaker who is also co-chair of the legislature’s Education Committee. Both McCrory and Cicero-Hamlin were reportedly named in the subpoenas.

Cicero Hamlin in 2024 relocated SHEBA’s operations to a vacant church in downtown Hartford, according to the Hartford Business Journal. In their latest 990 from 2023, SHEBA’s nonprofit entity showed $938,250 in contributions and grants, and $303,893 in expenses.

During a press briefing, Gov. Ned Lamont said the state is working with the federal government to “get to the bottom of this.”

Well, if the Governor is looking into all this, I guess we can relax.

Back in October when the Somali fraud was finally getting national attention, Minnesotan David Strom penned this article:

Blue Governments Exist to Facilitate Fraud

David Strom 4:40 PM | October 22, 2025

This sort of thing isn't a bug, but a feature of how many government programs work. 

In other states, there are similar scams. In California, homelessness is big business for NGOs. Lots of money flows in, and the only result is more homeless people, which in turn means more funding for the NGOs. 

Scams like this are even better than one of the nearly ideal government programs—the California High Speed Rail project. Billions of dollars spent, and absolutely nothing to show for it but a few concrete pillars. The only flaw in the ointment on that one is that Donald Trump is killing it, unless California can stop him. The plan is to stretch out the program for decades, filling the pockets of consultants and speculators, without delivering a thing. 

Here in Minnesota, the lefties have a slogan: "Happy to pay for a better Minnesota." Except...Minnesota taxes don't go to bettering Minnesota. They flow to favored constituencies. Rail programs that are disasters, NGOs that pocket the money, and consultants that hire Democrats. Meanwhile, our schools deteriorate, and our cities are hollowing out. 

There will always be some level of corruption in any large organization because human beings are like that. But Blue-state and city governments exist mainly to skim the cream off the top, and the greed is so great these days that they are killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.