A trial has begun in Waterbury Superior Court that features conspiracy allegations against former Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim and others in connection with a failed $1 billion waterfront development proposal.
R. Bartley Halloran, a lawyer for developer Alex Conroy, told a six-member jury on Tuesday that Ganim and his associates derailed Conroy’s Bridgeport Harbour Place project in 1998 so that development of the Steel Point property could be handed over to others who promised kickbacks.
Craig Raabe, a lawyer for Bridgeport, countered that Conroy’s plans could never have become reality because they were too ambitious for financiers and tenants.
Ganim is serving a nine-year prison sentence for corruption.
Conroy is suing Ganim, Bridgeport and five other defendants, including Fairfield real estate developers Alfred Lenoci Sr. and Alfred Lenoci Jr. FBI reports say the Lenocis, who were convicted in the city’s corruption scandal, promised kickbacks of $1 for every square foot they developed in Bridgeport.
