Oral arguments in the appeal of United States v. Aaron Zahn is one of 16 cases scheduled to be heard before the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals when it convenes the week of June 22 in Jacksonville.
The specific date and time will be determined at a later date.
Zahn, former CEO of JEA, was sentenced July 30, 2024, to four years in prison for wire fraud and conspiracy.
He was scheduled to begin his sentence on Oct. 28, 2024, but after his home near Tampa was damaged by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, he requested and was granted a delay, giving him until Jan. 27, 2025, to report for his sentence.
Zahn was convicted March 15, 2024, during a two-jury trial in which one jury heard his case and the other heard the case against co-defendant Ryan Wannemacher, former chief financial officer of JEA.
Wannemacher, who also was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy, was found not guilty of both charges.
The defendants were alleged to have schemed to craft a bonus plan that would have paid them tens of millions of dollars in undeserved compensation through privatization of JEA. The two also were alleged to have misled the JEA board into approving a sale of JEA to trigger the bonuses.
Zahn became CEO of JEA in November 2018, nine months after former Mayor Lenny Curry appointed him to the board. After two months on the board, Zahn was named interim CEO after the resignation of Paul McElroy.
In August 2019, the JEA issued an invitation to negotiate the sale of the utility with private companies, a move followed by claims by Zahn that the utility would have to lay off 29% of its workforce and raise rates by 26% if JEA remained publicly owned.
As the possible sale moved forward, concerns about the proposal from the community and among City Council members led to a Council Auditor memo warning that the bonus plan could cost the city as much as $636 million if JEA was sold. The auditor’s report triggered a formal inquiry by Council which was followed by a vote by the JEA board to fire Zahn in December 2019.