24 September—It’s not enough of a distinction for Kosta Diamantis to be a fugitive convicted felon, so now we learn he’s also a deadbeat. Three banks have sued Kosta in what’s fondly remembered as the little grey Litchfield Superior Court but is now the big Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse at Torrington. Kosta lived in the Hartford JD before skipping to Greece, so the banks’ lawyers likely chose the Litchfield JD for expediency.

According to the three civil suits, filed separately and by different law firms, all told Kosta owes Capital One, Wells Fargo, and Synchrony Bank about $42,000 between them, after failing to make payments on a personal loan and two credit cards. That’s chicken feed in the great scheme of things.

Without comment or intimate knowledge of Kosta’s personal finances, then, here are some facts relevant to his financial predicament:

When Kosta was arraigned on federal corruption charges in 2024, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Farrish set bond at $500,000 and allowed it to be secured by equity in Kosta’s real estate in Farmington, which was and is highly mortgaged, rather than cash up front.

Kosta’s 2024 retainer agreement with celebrated zealous defense lawyer Norm Pattis was for a total of $250,000. Kosta paid Norm $80,000 the day after signing—likely thanks to his hoard of ill-gotten pelf as well as his handsome state pension and social security—and came up with another $105,000 in six installments, leaving an unpaid balance of $65,000 as of August 2025, which led Norm to move to pull out of Kosta’s defense because continuing representation without taxation, as it were, would, according to Norm, cause a financial hardship for Norm’s law firm. Absolutely. Entirely understandable. That’s not a comment.

After Kosta’s alacritous and predictable conviction last October, then, a federal magistrate allowed Norm to dump his convicted (and presumably now indigent) client. But despite or because of Norm’s competent and zealous defense of Kosta, U.S. District Court Judge Stefan Underhill, the kind-hearted trial judge, prevailed on Norm to stick with Kosta, but at the piddling federal public defender rate of $177 an hour—paid for by taxpayers rather than Kosta, by the way—for Kosta’s second corruption trial that was supposed to start in December but won’t—unless, of course, Kosta returns voluntarily or otherwise.

If you’re wondering why Judge Underhill didn’t raise or revoke Kosta’s half-million-dollar bond or require electronic monitoring after conviction, it’s because the presumably Trumpified remaining federal prosecutors of questionable competence didn’t ask for it. Even better, Kosta assured Stefan, whom you figure would have known better than to trust a convicted criminal like Kosta, that as a fellow lawyer he’s never defy court orders. And better yet, Stefan also took Kosta’s word that his new Greek passport was in Greece for property inheritance matters.

And Norm is still representing Kosta diligently and zealously. For only $177 an hour . . .