Questions mount over former Ansonia mayor's city credit card spending as investigation continues
Questions are growing over how government-issued credit cards have been used by public officials in Connecticut, with former Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti now facing scrutiny over thousands of dollars in charges made on a city credit card.
After NBC Connecticut obtained eight years of city credit card statements through a Freedom of Information request, records showed Cassetti charged about $70,000 over a three-year period from 2023 to 2025.
The statements include more than $6,600 in purchases at BJ’s Wholesale Club, about $1,800 at a flower company and more than $1,200 for SiriusXM. The records do not include receipts, making it impossible to determine the purpose of every purchase.
“These are all legitimate charges and any that weren’t were reimbursed by [Cassetti] because he had made a mistake,” said Rob Serafinowicz, Cassetti’s attorney.
According to Serafinowicz, some reimbursed charges involved men’s clothing and grooming stores, as well as a vitamins and supplements business.
The City of Ansonia confirmed Cassetti’s spending is part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of possible misuse of money and resources during the previous administration.
Cassetti joins a growing list of Connecticut officials whose use of government-issued credit cards has come under scrutiny, including former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart and former Hartford Treasurer Carmen Sierra.
“I’m angry. And I think the people watching these stories have a right to be angry because these are taxpayer dollars that are being abused,” said State Comptroller Sean Scanlon. “Every swipe of one of these cards is coming out of the taxpayer’s pockets.”
The state comptroller is urging every community to strengthen oversight to catch problems early and even prevent them from happening.
“I have worked very hard in the last couple of years to put policies in place that do catch these things early, which is more audits from my office, more reporting requirements from the agencies to me and to my office to make sure that we’re seeing these things in almost real time,” Scanlon said.
Cassetti’s attorney called the Ansonia investigation politically motivated. The current mayor’s office rejected that characterization and said the city hired an independent firm to conduct the investigation.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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