The owner of a prominent Greater Hartford marketing and advertising agency is asking a judge to overturn subpoenas from Attorney General William Tong’s office seeking financial records of himself and his firm, Glastonbury-based Cashman & Katz LLC.
Tong’s office sent the subpoenas — in relation to potential suspected violations of the CT False Claims Act — to eight financial institutions in early October, court documents state.
According to the lawsuit filed earlier this month by Anthony Cashman and his firm, which goes by CashmanKatz, the subpoenas seek financial records for both the company and Cashman personally from Jan. 1, 2018, to the present — including statements, canceled checks, loan applications, and safe-deposit-box records.
The subpoenas do not cite any alleged misconduct, according to Cashman’s lawsuit.
The subpoenas referenced in the lawsuit were not made public.
Cashman, who is the firm’s president and CEO, filed a complaint in Hartford Superior Court on Oct. 7 aiming to block the attorney general’s demands, referring to them as “unfettered fishing expeditions.”
According to court documents, Tong’s office indicated the subpoenas are related to a “suspected violation of Conn. Gen. Stat. § 4-275 related to the submission of claims for payment to a medical assistance program.”
The statute, also known as the state’s False Claims Act, prohibits knowingly making or presenting false claims for payment or approval by the state.
Cashman’s attorney, Kenneth A. Votre of East Haven, argued in filings that no such allegation or proceeding exists involving Cashman or his business, and that there is no “factual predicate” to justify the intrusion on their financial privacy.
The motion also claims the subpoenas violate Connecticut banking privacy laws and constitutional due process protections.
The lawsuit argues the subpoenas are overly broad, seeking nearly every record tied to Cashman and his firm over a seven-year period without limits on time or subject matter.
Tong’s subpoenas were sent to American Express, Capital One, Citizens Bank, M&T Bank, Webster Bank, KeyBank, Santander and Citibank, according to court filings.
Cashman is seeking a court order forcing Tong’s office to show cause why the subpoenas should not be quashed, a stay on enforcement and an injunction preventing the state from reviewing any records it has already obtained.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled on Nov. 6.
A spokesperson for Tong’s office declined to comment on the specific matter, but issued the following statement:
“State law authorizes the Attorney General to investigate suspected violations of the CT False Claims Act and to issue subpoenas for records in furtherance of the investigation,” the statement says. “When the subpoena seeks records from a bank, the attorney general must also serve a copy of the subpoena on the account holder.”
In 1992, Cashman co-founded the business with Ed Katz, who left in 2008 to start his own business, Katnip Marketing.