Sitting in the federal courtroom where he had been found guilty of conspiracy and wire fraud, Aaron Zahn hung his head at the defense table and sobbed loudly.
The outpouring of emotion was one of many dramatic moments in a six-year saga that saw Zahn fall from JEA’s top leadership position amid allegations that he had tried to loot the city owned utility of tens of millions of dollars through a scheme designed to provide him and other executives with undeserved bonuses.
The former JEA CEO and managing director of the city- owned utility was found guilty March 15 after an unconventional trial that included separate juries for Zahn and his codefendant, former CFO Ryan Wannemacher. The jury for the Wannemacher case found him not guilty.
Zahn, who is allowed to remain free after the trial, returned to the Bryan Simpson U.S. Courthouse on July 30 and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tysen Duva, the lead prosecutor in the trial, called the verdict in Zahn’s case a “huge event for our history” in Jacksonville and said the government would pursue no further prosecutions in the matter.
Zahn filed an appeal Aug. 13 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. On Oct. 23, Senior U.S. District Judge Brian Davis granted an extension for Zahn to report to federal prison Jan. 27 instead of Oct. 28 because his family’s home in Tampa was damaged by hurricanes Helene and Milton.
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