The former utility cooperative official deemed the lead planner of junkets to the Kentucky Derby and a West Virginia golf resort will no longer challenge his criminal conviction, but he maintains he should not have to pay back the $2.5 million the cooperative spent on his defense.

He is also seeking an injunction to force CMEEC to continue paying his legal defense costs for an upcoming second federal criminal indictment.

Drew Rankin, former CEO of the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative, was one of three former CMEEC officials convicted on a theft charge in connection with their roles in organizing the trips for dozens of CMEEC board members, staff members, political leaders, business vendors, families and friends.

At a civil court appearance in New Haven federal court Tuesday pertaining to disputes over legal fees, Rankin’s attorney, Craig A. Raabe, said Rankin no longer would seek to challenge the conviction in the first criminal case. And he would not seek reimbursement for the legal bills CMEEC refused to pay between his sentencing in May 2023 through the appeal ruling last month.

According to invoices provided to The Day by CMEEC, Rankin had submitted bills totaling $492,095 during that period that CMEEC did not pay.

Rankin was convicted in December 2021 along with John Bilda, former Norwich Public Utilities general manager, and James Sullivan, former chair of the CMEEC board and Norwich utilities board, on one count each of theft from a program receiving federal funds.

CMEEC said Sullivan had submitted invoices totaling $425,682 since CMEEC cut off paying the legal bills, and Bilda submitted bills totaling $55,594. None of those bills were paid by CMEEC.

The cooperative is owned by six municipally owned electric utilities in Connecticut, including Norwich Public Utilities, Groton Utilities, Bozrah Light & Power and Jewett City Department of Public Utilities.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in May 2023 sentenced Rankin to 12 months in prison and three years’ probation and ordered him to pay CMEEC $374,400. Bilda and Sullivan were sentenced to serve six months in prison and three years’ probation and each ordered to pay $187,400 in restitution.

Immediately following the sentencings and restitution orders, CMEEC announced it no longer would pay legal bills for any of the three and sent letters to them demanding repayment following the guilty verdicts.

The U.S. Second Court of Appeals denied the appeals of all three convicted men last month.

Rankin seeks injunction

CMEEC attorneys at Tuesday’s hearing argued Rankin must repay the $2.5 million the cooperative paid to Rankin to cover his legal bills.

Rankin, in addition to disputing he owes the entire amount, is asking the court to force CMEEC to continue paying his legal defense costs for an upcoming second federal criminal indictment in which Rankin and Sullivan face theft charges for allegedly using nearly $100,000 in CMEEC money to pay personal expenses for Sullivan.

Meyer held oral arguments in the civil case Tuesday. Rankin, who now lives in Kentucky, attended by video screen.

Raabe argued that Rankin has no obligation to repay CMEEC for the entire $2.5 million the cooperative has paid for his legal fees since the indictment came down in 2018. Raabe said the CMEEC bylaws, revised in 2018 as the federal criminal investigation was underway, had no provisions requiring repayment if the defendants were found guilty.

He said CMEEC officials were well aware of the investigation at the time they revised the bylaws and failed to include the repayment clause.

At the time of the indictment, Rankin and four other defendants signed what was called an Affirmation and Undertaking agreement, promising to reimburse CMEEC for the legal fees if they were “ultimately determined” ineligible for legal coverage following a conviction.

CMEEC attorneys Michael T. McCormack and Michelle M. Seery said that’s exactly what happened, and Rankin should be ordered to follow the agreement he signed. Raabe countered that the agreement was unenforceable because the bylaws already had required CMEEC to pay Rankin’s legal bills and did not specify terms for reimbursement.

Seery said the legal fees coverage was termed “advancement” for a reason. She said the fees advanced should be considered a loan, to be repaid if Rankin was deemed ineligible, as he was per his conviction, she said.

CMEEC’s attorneys also argued that Rankin’s request for an injunction to resume legal fees for the second pending criminal case should be rejected. McCormack said that case had been put on hold at the start of the first criminal trial and has not yet been reactivated by federal prosecutors.

McCormack said if Rankin could not afford his own attorney for the pending case, he could be assigned a public defender. He said there is no “public benefit” to CMEEC’s continued coverage of Rankin’s legal costs.

“CMEEC and its ratepayers have suffered for the past six to seven years,” McCormack said.

Meyer did not rule on any of the motions and counter claims Tuesday, telling the parties following the 90-minute hearing that he hopes to make decisions shortly.

c.bessette@theday.com