Hartford City Treasurer Adam Cloud took the stand in the federal criminal trial of former insurance executive Earl O’Garro Wednesday. Afterwards, Cloud said he had been betrayed by his former friend and maligned by the media.
Back in July of 2013, O’Garro got in touch with Cloud and told him that the city was late on some of its insurance payments to his firm, Hybrid Insurance. Cloud then urged the city to wire O’Garro more than $800,000 so the city wouldn’t be harmed. The wire happened but O’Garro never paid those premiums.
Eventually, federal prosecutors charged O’Garro with various counts of fraud, saying in court that he used that money and more to enrich himself – fancy cars, meals, hotel stays, and a million-dollar beachfront condo in the Dominican Republic. Cloud spent around an hour on the stand. When he was done, he spoke outside the Hartford courthouse.
"What is most disappointing is a young man who had all that promise used my office and used our friendship to benefit himself improperly," Cloud said. "And, for that, I think that’s a travesty.”
Cloud said he felt betrayed by O’Garro.
“I also feel maligned by the media because there’s been nothing but speculation, innuendo, and suggestion of impropriety on my part which I hope today, in going forward, is shown was never the case,” he said.
On the stand, Cloud explained how the wire came to be. He also explained more about his personal relationship with O’Garro. First, O’Garro did business with Cloud and his family – O’Garro hired Cloud’s brother to be Hybrid’s lobbyist, and he rented downtown office space from Cloud, his brother, and his father.
But it also became clear that they were all friends. Cloud said he went to O’Garro’s bachelor party, and he, his brother, and his father all went to O’Garro’s Jamaica wedding in Montego Bay. Outside the courthouse, I asked Cloud’s attorney, John Droney, what he thought the relevance of Cloud’s personal relationship was.
“I have no idea," Droney said. "Perhaps because they don’t have anything else to cross examine him about. He never has denied that he was friends with O’Garro. He was betrayed by O’Garro. He is a victim in this particular case.”
And, Droney said, the real question is this: What did O’Garro do with the $800,000? Prosecutors say they’ll answer that soon enough.
